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LIPPINCOTT'S 

EDUCATIONAL GUIDES 

EDITED BY 

W. F. RUSSELL, Ph.D. 

DEAN, COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 



\ 



''lippincott's educational guides 

EDITED BY W. F. RUSSELL, Ph.D. 

DKAN, COI.MiOK OK EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 



'brightness and 

dullness in 

children 



BY 

HiaiBERT ^yOODROW, Ph.D. 

ASSOCIATE I'UOKESSOK OK l'SYCHOLO<.Y IN TME UNIVEKSIIY OI- MINNESOTA 

/ 

ILLUSTRATED 




IMHT.ADKLPTTIA " CTTICAGO :: LONDON :: MONTREAL 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 



LB//3I 



COPYRIGHT, 19 1 9, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY w*' 



DEC 31 <91d 



PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. 



i 



©C!,A56i288 



sy" 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I Introduction 9 

II The Measurement of Intelligence 19 

Pioneer studies in the measurement of intelligence. 
The Binet-Simon measuring scale. Evidence of the 
accuracy of the revisions of the Binet-Simon scale. 
Criticism of the Binet-Simon scale. Group tests. 

III Brightness and Dullness 41 

Distinction between mental age and brightness. The 
lowest degrees of brightness : Definitions in terms of 
social status and definitions in terms of mental age. 
Years of retardation as a basis for definition of degrees 
of brightness. Intelligence quotients. Application of 
intelligence quotients to the definition of all degrees of 
brightness. Race, class and sex differences in 
in elligence. 

IV Brains 61 

The relation of mind to body The relation of brain 
development to the evolution of animal intelligence. 
The development of the brain in children. The relation 
of the brain to differences in intelligence in adults. 

V Physical Defects 81 

The relation of physical defects to intelligence. Defec- 
tive vision. Defective hearing Non-sensory defects. 
Stigmata of degeneracy. Medical inspection and its 
relation to the teacher. 

VI Anatomical Age : 97 

The various child ages. Anatomical age. Indices of 
anatomical age. The eruption of teeth. The ossifica- 
tion of the wrist boft,eg;'fVaVaatiGn in the anatomical age 
of children. Sex dififerences. Anatomical age and 
mental ability. Relation of height and weight to 
anatomical age and to mental ability. The educa- 
tional value of measurements of anatomical age. 

VII Pedagogical Age .^ ,% ^^^ 

Definition cA pedagogical age on the basis of "normal" 
ages. The prevalence of pedagogical retardation and 
advancement. Elimination as studied by^ age and 
grade distributions. The relation of elimination to 
pedagogical retardation. Causes of pedagogical retarda- 
tion. Remedial measures. 



6 CONTENTS 

VIII Simple Mental Processes 147 

Intelligent behavior and mind. Methods of measuring 
sensory capacity and estimating its relation to intelli- 
gence. The relation of sensory capacity to intelligence. 
Comparison of the senses of primitive and advanced 
races. Perception. Imagery. Feelings. 

IX Association, Memory and Attention 171 

Free association. Controlled association. Memory. 
Attention. 

X Complex Mental Processes 190 

Reasoning. Instincts and emotions. Will: (i) Per- 
sistence; (2) Suggestibility and impulse. 

XI Mental Organization 213 

The problem of the interrelationsliip of mental traits. 
Three psychological theories of mental organization. 
Corresponding theories of brain action. The evidence 
from correlations. Spearman's two-factor theory. A 
multifactor theory. 

XII Heredity 232 

Definition of heredity and environment. Methods of 
investigation. Results of the correlational method. 
Pedigrees of the feeble-minded. The Kallikak family. 
The inheritance of superior intelligence. The Edwards 
family. Conclusion. 

XIII The Organization of Education 254 

The relation of education to heredity and growth. The 
necessity for special education for bright and dull 
children. Provision for dull and superior children. The 
problem of the feeble-minded. 

XIV Educational Methods 275 

The savage of the Aveyron. The physiological method. 
Critical estimate of the physiological method. Experi- 
ments in the education of children with exceptional 
abilities. The training of mental capacities. 

Index of Authors 311 

Index of Subjects 3^5 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



FIG. PAGE 

1. Distribution of the Mental Ages of One Hundred Ten-year-old 

School Children 32 

2. Growth in Mental Age 48 

3. Diagrammatic Representation of the Cortical Layers and of 

the Different Types of Neurones' 64 

4. The Growth of the Brain in Weight 68 

5. Comparison of Sections of the Cortex of Normal and Feeble- 

minded Persons 76 

6. The Permanent Teeth 102 

7. Radiographs Showing the Variation in Anatomical Age of 

Ten-year-old Children i lO 

8. Sex Differences in Anatomical Age of Ten-year-old Children 112 

9. Tape Used in the Dotting Test 188 

10. Ergograph Test 204 

11. Children's Ergograph Curves 206 

12. Showing Performance in Suggestion Test 209 

13. Descendants of Martin Kallikak, Sr., by His Wife, and by a 

Feeble-minded Girl 246 



BRIGHTNESS AND 
DULLNESS IN CHILDREN 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

The day before his fifth birthday, Francis Galton 
wrote the following letter ^ to his sister : 

My dear Adele : 

I am 4 years old and I can read any English book. I can say all 
the Latin Substantives and Adjectives and active verbs besides 52 
lidts of Latin poetry. I can cast up any sum in addition and can 
multiply by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, (9), 10, (11). 

I can also say the pence table. I read French a little and I 
know the clock. 

Francis Galton, 
Febuary 15, 1827. 

The only misspelling is in the word February. The 
numbers 9 and 11 are bracketed because one had been 
scratched out with a knife, and the other was covered 
by a bit of paper pasted over it. 

By the age of six, Galton was conversant with the 
Iliad and the Odyssey. At six and seven, he busied 
himself with collecting insects and minerals, which he 
is said to have classified and studied in more than a child- 
ish fashion. The following well-worded note proves that 
at the age of ten be was absorbed in religious questions : 

^ From vol. i of Karl Pearson's " Life, Letters and Labors of 
Galton." Quoted by Terman in the American Journal of Psychology, 
vol. xviii, 1917, p. 210. 

9 



lo INTRODUCTION 

December 30, 1832. 
My dearest Papa: 

It is now my pleasure to disclose the most ardent wishes of my 
heart, which are to extract out of my boundless wealth in compound, 
money sufficient to make this addition to my unequaled library : 

The Hebrew Commonwealth by John 9 

A Pastor Advice 2 

Hornne's commentaries on the Psalms 4 

Paley's Evidence on Christianity 2 

Jones Biblical Cyclopedia 10 

27 

Notwithstanding his wonderful precociousness, this 
noted EngHsh scientist accompHshed his best work at 
an advanced age. Hereditary Genius was pubHshed in 
his fiftieth year; Natural Inheritance in his sixty-eighth. 

Galton is only one among a vast number of men of 
genius who are known to have displayed exceptional 
ability in childhood. The majority of poets and musicians 
show their genius at a very early age. Tasso was famous 
at the age of eight and Southey wrote dramas before 
that age; at the age of three, Mozart took piano lessons; 
at four, he played minuets and composed short pieces; 
and at five, he performed in public. 

In the field of science and philosophy, among those 
who were famous in their youth are Lord Bacon, Kant, 
Locke, Berkeley, Descartes, Spinoza, and Lord Macaulay. 
Macaulay read incessantly at the age of three. At seven, 
he began A Compendium of Universal History, and 
at eight he wrote A Treatise to Convert the Natives of 
Malabar to Christianity. All of these men lived to a fairly 
advanced age and continued their creative work through- 
out the greater part of their lives. 

I have referred particularly to Galton merely because 



INTRODUCTION ii 

he belongs to that group of geniuses of whom it is some- 
times alleged that they show no signs of exceptional 
ability until late in life. Clearly in Galton's case, the 
idea that genius develops slowly is based on ignorance : 
Galton was a genius even in his boyhood. Whether with 
more abundant information we should find all men of 
genius to have been exceptional children, it is impossible 
to say. On the other hand, of those placed at the opposite 
extreme of intelligence, the feeble-minded, it may be 
said with assurance that their careers as adults are faith- 
fully foreshadowed by the performances of their child- 
hood, even of their very early childhood. And since our 
interest at present is in differences in intelligence which 
exist in children, it is well worth our while to consider 
the contrast between the early record of Francis Galton 
and the following one of a girl named Abbie, a case typical 
of high-grade feeble-mindedness of the sort that is not 
uncommon in the special classes of our city schools. 

Admitted to the New Jersey Training School for 
Feeble-Minded Boys and Girls in 1900, at the age of 
eleven, Abbie was small for her age, left-handed, and 
awkward. She always put the same foot forward when 
going up or down stairs ; she knew her letters but could 
not read; she could count to ten; she knew some color 
and form ; and she sang a number of hymns that she had 
learned at home. Her sight and hearing were normal, 
and she was fond of play.^ Among Abbie' s more 
unfavorable characteristics were a bad memory and a poor 
povv-er of imitation. She was gluttonous, untidy, untruth- 
ful, sly and profane. 

Three months after her admission she could thread 

' The Training School, vol. vii, 1910, p. 182. 



12 INTRODUCTION 

a needle and sew on buttons, could dust and rub floors a 
little, had learned to read A man ran and / see a man 
(sometimes), counted to twenty, and, with help, could 
do such number work as this : J i _i. 

For ten years she went to school. *' For ten years," 
runs the report, '' her teachers struggled heroically to 
give her the mastery of something. Little less than mar- 
velous is the optimism and faithfulness of those teachers ! 
We see them struggling on month after month, not in 
that perfunctory way born of discouragement or con- 
scious failure, but with that courage and cheerfulness 
which comes from grasping at every straw of encourage- 
ment, of progress, of fancied improvement. Had these 
teachers become discouraged, we would have to admit that 
perhaps the result might be due to that fact. But there 
is no sign of giving up in all these years. Within the last 
few months, however, there has appeared the feeling that 
Abbie has reached her limit. She will be twenty-two 
years old before long. 

" To-day she is still small for her age. She can braid 
corn-husks a little; can make a bed; can iron an apron; 
cannot count the cost of three one-cent stamps and three 
two-cent stamps, with the stamps before her; cannot 
repeat five figures or a sentence of fifteen words; defines 
only in terms of use; can read a few sentences, spell a few 
words and write about twenty-five words from memory ; 
knows the days of the week, but not the months of the 
year; and does not know how many fingers she has 
on both hands." 

Francis Galton and little Abbie represent opposite 
poles of human intelligence; they typify the extremes 
and between them are any number of variations. The 
differences existing between individuals in regard to 



INTRODUCTION 13 

common sense, mental ability and character are enormous. 
Obviously, they are of the utmost importance in deter- 
mining the constitution of society and the aims of educa- 
tion. These differences come most clearly to view in the 
successes and failures of adult life. What is opportunity 
for one man is discouragement for another ; as one climbs 
to eminence, another, starting v^ith equal opportunities, 
treads a path that leads him to the poor-house. The 
struggle of life constitutes the test, a test which some 
pass gloriously and others utterly fail. Adult life, how- 
ever, merely emphasizes the existence of individual dif- 
ferences in endowment ; it does not create them. For the 
most part these differences, determining factors in the 
careers of men and women, are present in early childhood. 
In almost any American school the children 'display nearly 
every degree of intelligence between the brilliant Francis 
Galton and the feeble-minded Abbie. 

Psychological and pedagogical investigations con- 
ducted during the last decade have clearly demonstrated 
the fact that children of the same age and the same 
amount of schooling vary from one to five years or more 
in mental capacity as well as in their school grade, and 
that the number of children who differ widely from what 
may be termed the normal is very much greater than has 
been generally supposed. Of course the factors which 
determine the rank a child takes, whether in school or 
out of school, are innumerable. One child may enjoy 
better health than another, be better nourished and less 
easily fatigued, or have fewer physical defects. One 
may study harder or with more interest and concentration 
of attention than another. Home environment is of great 
importance. A child reared in a slum, by ignorant or 
wicked parents incapable of training him properly, cannot 



14 INTRODUCTION 

fairly compete with one who is influenced from the first by 
culture and sane discipline. Again, the quality of a child's 
companions is a crucial element. Differences in intelli- 
gence may depend upon ability or disability in some 
particular mental function, such as the capacity for 
visualization or for rote memory. Countless circum- 
stances and conditions affect a child's success in the innu- 
merable performances which make up his life; but the 
most comprehensive and fundamental of them all, to 
which the tests must inevitably return, is, finally, his 
innate brightness or dullness. 

Now brightness and dullness refer merely to a child's 
comparative intelligence. A bright child is one with more 
than ordinary intelligence and a dull child one with less 
than ordinary intelligence. Evidently, then, if we wish 
to act wisely in guiding the development of our children, 
we must understand the nature of intelligence, the factors 
affecting it, and the consideration that must be given it in 
the choice of educational aims and methods. These sub- 
jects are discussed in the following pages. Our knowledge 
of them has greatly advanced since 1908, when Binet 
and Simon perfected their famous method of measuring 
intelligence. This information is practically new, and is 
constantly and rapidly increasing, but it already constitutes 
one of the most important chapters of modern science. 

Although, as I have said, a child's success in school 
is not determined solely by his intelligence, but depends 
on a great many other factors, every one of these stands 
in some relationship to intelligence. Consequently they 
must be included in any thorough study of brightness and 
dullness. One cannot understand the nature of intelli- 
gence without studying its relation to health, to the 
development of the brain and the rest of the body, its 



INTRODUCTION 15 

relation to the senses and to the various mental processes 
such as attention, memory and judgment and to defects 
in these, the degree to which it is modifiable by learning 
and by the environment and, on the other hand, the degree 
to which it is fixed by heredity. It is evident that the 
subject of intelligence is a broad one, as broad as the 
whole field of psychology, and that it touches upon other 
sciences as well. It deals with fundamental problems to 
be met with in all branches of human activity. 

Heretofore the lower degrees of intelligence, dullness 
and feeble-mindedness, have forced themselves most 
strongly upon the attention of investigators. Because 
more is known about the lower end of the scale than the 
higher, I have purposely emphasized, in this discussion, the 
higher. To be* sure, the problem of feeble-mindedness is 
enormously important. "Feeble-mindedness," wroteAmos 
Butler, " produces more pauperism, degeneracy and crime 
than any other one force. It touches every form of chari- 
table activity. It is felt in every part of our land. It 
affects in some way all our people." ^ But facts concern- 
ing feeble-mindedness constitute only a small part of our 
knowledge about intelligence. We are beginning nowa- 
days to study the exceptionally bright child as well as 
the dull one, realizing that, if it is worth while to dis- 
cover the best training for a feeble-minded girl like Abbie, 
it is many times worth while to seek out adequate prepara- 
tion for the future leaders in literature and art, science, 
business, and government. But in dealing with bright 
children or with dull, there are certain laws and relation- 
ships which are fundamental, and which hold for all 

*"The Burden of Feeble-Mindedness." Proceedings of the 
34ih Conference of Charities and Corrections, 1907, p. 10. 



i6 INTRODUCTION 

degrees of intelligence. There has grown up a science 
of general intelligence. This book is intended to serve as 
an introduction to that science. 

By the science of intelligence I do not mean simply 
the art of applying a modern scale for the measurement 
of intelligence. To apply these scales is the task of the 
specially trained expert. The scales themselves are still 
in the experimental stage, and so are constantly being 
modified. Therefore, it requires a prohibitive amount of 
time and study to keep abreast with the latest develop- 
ments, to say nothing of the time necessary to give the 
tests so that no one but a specialist has the opportunity 
and skill to be a good intelligence tester. However, no 
matter how successfully the tests of intelligence are con- 
ducted, the immediate results in themselves have little • 
value. They by no means constitute an adequate mental 
diagnosis. They must be interpreted in connection with 
other data before any definite conclusions can be drawn. 
The intelligence tester needs, in addition to his technical 
skill, a knowledge of intelligence in all its aspects and 
relations — a veiy broad and tliorough knowledge. And 
to the average worker with children, to the educator, 
whether administrator or teacher, just this broader 
knowledge is of infinite value. It is with this material that 
the following pages are concerned ; they do not comprise 
a manual of intelligence testing. Some account, it is true, 
is given of the methods for measuring intelligence. This 
is done, however, for tlie light that a knowledge of these 
methods throws upon the meaning of intelligence, and 
upon the many important conclusions to which their use 
has led. 

The topic of intelligence is naturally of the utmost 



INTRODUCTION 17 

concern to the educator, because education deals primarily 
with the development or training of intelligence. The 
teacher must grapple with problems of the development 
of intelligence, and of individual differences in intelli- 
gence, not occasionally and incidentally, but constantly. 
These are the very gist of her work. Without a thorough 
understanding of the modern investigations along this 
line, and their significance, it is impossible for the teacher 
to know what she should aim to do or what methods 
she should employ in the accomplishment of her aims. 

The teacher of to-day needs a knowledge of the 
modern psychology of intelligence. She must know 
when it is desirable to try to bring a backward pupil up 
to grade, and when it is not, and why it usually is not. 
She should realize that the exceptionally bright child who 
seldom troubles her may be her greatest problem. She 
should understand the sources of the errors teachers often 
make in their estimates of brightness and dullness, such, 
for instance, as the failure to take properly into account 
differences in age. She should be familiar with the con- 
cept of mental age and with the method of classifying 
children as superior, dull, or normal by its aid more 
accurately than in any other manner, f The teacher should 
know that intelligence has a physical basis, and should 
understand the relation of intelligence to the brain and 
to physical defects.] This relation places heavy respon- 
sibilities upon her. Further, she ought to understand the 
part played by the various mental processes in the make-up 
of intelligence, and the interrelationship and organization 
of these processes. She should comprehend the relation- 
ship between mental ability and success and failure in 
school work, in order to determine upon the proper treat- 



i8 INTRODUCTION 

ment of over-age pupils, and in order to value the great 
problem of preventing children from dropping out of 
school before they have received the education that is 
their right. She must know that innate brightness and 
dullness can be recognized at an early age, and that they 
demand recognition as fundamental factors in the deter- 
mination both of the general school organization and of 
educational methods. 

Clearly, the science of education depends upon, and 
finds its surest foundation in, the science of intelligence. 



CHAPTER II 

THE MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE 

The successful measurement of intelligence, first 
accomplished by the method of Binet and Simon, is per- 
haps the most brilliant achievement of modern psychol- 
ogy. It supplied an imperative need long felt by all 
discerning persons engaged in work with children. The 
science of psychology has been vitalized and rejuvenated 
by this achievement, which, in its far-reaching and ever- 
growing developments in the fields of psychology and 
education, has exceeded the most sanguine expecta- 
tions of those men of clear vision labored towards 
its culmination. 

Pioneer Studies in the Measurement of Intelligence. — 
Work earlier than that of Binet, and, indeed, much of 
the earlier work of Binet himself, was directed not so 
much towards the measurement of intelligence as a whole 
as towards the development of tests for measuring various 
elementary features of human capacity. The great pio- 
neer in this sort of work was Francis Gal ton, who, in 
1883, pubHshed an elaborate account of individual and 
racial differences.^ The object of his tests and measure- 
ments, he described as follows : " It is to obtain a general 
knowledge of the capacities of a man by sinking shafts, 
as it were, at a few critical points. In order to ascertain 
the best points for the purpose, the set of measures should 
be compared with an independent estimate of the man's 

^ " Inquiries into Human Faculty." 

19 



20 THE MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE 

powers. We may thus leani which of the measurements 
are the most instructive." ^ 

Galton gathered much of his data by rather crude 
methods, such as mere casual observation. In some cases, 
however, he followed quasi-scientific procedures. He 
studied differences in mental imagery by elaborate ques- 
tionnaires ; the ability to make discriminations in weight, 
he tested by careful experiment; and for determining 
sensitivity to high pitches, and the limit at which pitches 
become too high to be audible, he devised a kind of whistle. 
One of these, he tells us, he had set into the end of his 
walking-stick, with a bit of rubber tubing concealed under 
the handle. A sudden squeeze of the tubing forced a 
little air into the whistle and caused it to sound. On 
his walks through zoological gardens, he amused himself 
by sounding this apparatus as near to the ears of the ani- 
mals, as he safely could. If the animals pricked up their 
ears, he concluded that they had heard the whistle; if they 
did not, that the tone was inaudible. 

Galton was followed by a large number of investiga- 
tors, who, while perfecting the precision of mental tests 
and increasing their number, made observations regard- 
ing their applicability to various practical problems. In 
Germany, Kraepelin inaugurated studies of the differ- 
ences between the mentally normal and the insane. In 
America, Cattell devised a set of tests which for a number 
of years were given to freshmen entering Columbia Uni- 
versity. These tests were designed to measure such capaci- 
ties as the following: Strength of grip, or the greatest 
possible squeeze of the hand; sensory discrimination by 
the skin, indicated by the distance that must separate two 

* Remarks, following an article by Cattell, on " Mental Tests and 
Measurements," in Mind, vol. xv, 1890, p. 380. 



PIONEER STUDIES 21 

compass points in order that they may be felt as two; 
the sense of pain, measured by the amount of pressure 
on the ball of the hand required to produce a painful sen- 
sation ; the ability to discriminate weight marked by the 
least difference noticeable ; reaction time, the time elapsing 
before a stimulus, e.g., a loud sound, calls forth a move- 
ment made in response to it by the finger; visual space 
perception, determined by the ability to bisect a 50 cm. 
line; time estimation, shown in the ability to reproduce 
an interval of 10 seconds by taps made on the table; and 
memory, manifested by the number of letters that can 
be repeated correctly after one hearing.^ 

As measures of ability, Cattell's tests were chiefly 
negative in value.^ Other tests, however, which were 
directed primarily to the study of children, were some- 
what more successful. Gilbert, for example, established 
by a number of tests, norms of performance for school- 
children of all ages from 6 to 17. Besides finding an 
increase in ability with advance in years, he found some 
of his tests to correlate with the brightness of the children 
as estimated by their teachers. " The curves for reac- 
tion time gave the most positive results, showing that 
the brighter the child the more quickly he is able to act." ^ 
These tentative beginnings continued until finally it ap- 
peared possible to estabHsh norms whereby a child could 
be readily classified for pedagogical purposes.^ 

The work of American investigators was criticized by 

^ " Mental Tests and Measurements." Mhid, vol. xv, pp. Z7A-Z77- 
* See Wissler, " Correlation of Mental and Physical Tests." 

Psychological Review Monograph Supplements, vol. iii, 1901, No. 16. 
' ^ " Researches on the Mental and Physical Development of 

School Children." Studies from the Yale Psychological Laboratory, 

vol. ii, 1894, P- 94- 

® See Kelley, " Psycho-Physical Tests of Normal and Abnormal 

Children." Psychological Review, vol. x, 1903, p. 371. 



2 2 THE MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE 

Binet and Henri/ the distinguishecl French psychologists, 
on the ground that the tests employed measured mental 
processes which were too simple — which did not suffi- 
ciently involve the '* superior mental faculties." They 
accordingly prcKceded to devise a large number of tests, 
which, although simple in application, involved more com- 
plex mental activity. Instead of measuring the ability 
to distinguish slightly (Hft'erent weights or colors, 
they sought io obtain an appreciation of such i>owers as 
tluxsc of judgment, synthesis, imagination and aesthetic 
appreciation; often the mental finictions tested could 
not l>e exactly analyzed; it could only be said that 
they were complex. 

The Binet-Simon Measuring Scale. — The Binet-Simon 
scale represents a crystallization of the experience 
acquired through many years of exi)erimentation. For 
years before the perfection of this scale, Binet had studied 
the value of mental and physical tests. He had covered 
an extensive lield, including measurements of the head, 
height and weight, and tests of ixn-ceptiiMi. uienuM-y and 
attention. He had for years been experiuienting among 
the children in the schools of Paris, until he had acquired 
an expert knowledge of child psychology. 

The practical necessity of devising some means lor 
the measurement of intelligence was brought home to him 
with great force when, in iqo^, the French IMinister 
of Public Instruction made him a member of a com- 
mission appointed for the purpose of organizing classes 
for subnormal children in the public schools of Paris. 
How were subnormal children to be positively distin- 
guished? Very hazy notions surrounded the matter, and 

' " La psychologic individuelle." L'AmUc psychologique, vol. ii, 
1805. p. 4-*^». 



THE BINET-SIMON MEASURING SCALE 23 

it was important that the selection of children for special 
classes shonld not l>e left to the nncertainties of personal 
opinion. It was under the incentive of this pressing and 
practical difficulty that Binel, in collaboration with Dr. 
Simon, produced the hrilliant synthesis known as the 
Jjinet-Simon measuring;- scale of intelligence. This scale, 
in its earliest j;uise, was published in 1905 and in its 
])erfecte(l form in 1908. 

The Ih'net-Simon scale comprises a large number of 
intelligence tests arranged in a series of increasing diffi- 
culty. The tests re(iuire the answering of brief, direct 
(juestions and the performance of simple tasks, all bearing 
upon matters of every-day life. They manifest great 
variety and demand many different mental i)rocesses, as 
the following list shows. Subjects are asked to execute 
simple orders; to name familiar objects; to repeat short 
series of digits and short sentences; to compare lengths, 
and weights; to count, naming pieces of money, and mak- 
ing change; to define familiar, concrete terms and abstract 
terms; to point out similarities in the meaning of two 
words; to point out differences; to tell what they see 
in a complex picture; to copy geometrical figures or 
reproduce them from memory; to tell what ought tO' be 
done in various situations; to put together the words 
of a dissected sentence so that they make sense; and to 
recognize absurdities. 

Some authorities are of the opinion that the success oi 
the Binet and Simon tests is due to their preoccupation 
with the higher and more complex mental functions. 
Although there is some truth in this contention, many of 
Binet's tests are exceedingly simple; as simple as any of 
the older tests. Taken individually, Binet's tests have not 
been proved superior to, nor greatly different from the 



24 THE MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE 

older tests. Indeed, some of the Binet tests, such as those 
calHng for weight discrimination and memory feats, are 
survivals of the oldest psychological tests in existence. 
The real secret of Binet's success lies in the fact that, after 
long years of experimenting with separate tests, he finally 
decided to use a large number of tests in combination. 
Intelligence, he decided, is too complex to be measured 
by any one test ; but by using in combination five or six 
quite dissimilar tests, he found immediately that he could 
obtain significant results. 

While the success of the Binet and Simon tests is due 
fundamentally to the use of a number of tests in com- 
bination, the world-wide popularity they so rapidly 
attained must be attributed largely to their arrangement 
by ages. They are all classified according to the age at 
which the average, or normal, child can pass them. Thus, 
tliere are five tests for four-year-old children, five others 
for children of five years, five, still different, for children 
of six years, and so on. The idea is simply that at each 
age the ordinary, normal child can do certain things which 
he could not do at an earlier age; and that by arranging 
a system of tests to test ability to do these things, one 
can determine to what age of a normal child the ability of 
any tested child corresponds. The age of the normal 
child whose ability is equalled by the tested child is said 
to be the mental age of the latter. It is thus an easy 
matter to understand just what the Binet tests do : they 
measure intelligence in terms of mental age. 

The desirability of obtaining an estimate of intelli- 
gence in terms of mental age had long been recognized.^ 

^ See Rogers. " The Classification of the Feeble-Minded Based 
on !NIental Age." Reprinted from the Bulletin of the American 
Academy of Medicine, vol. xiii, 1912, No. 3. 



THE BINET-SIMON MEASURING SCALE 25 

As far back as 1828, Esquirol, the first writer clearly to 
define the term idiocy, called attention to the fact that 
an idiot was incapable of acquiring the knowledge of other 
persons of his own age placed in similar conditions 
with himself.^ 

Duncan and Millard, in 1866, plainly ^thought in terms 
of mental age, when they wrote, concerning the various 
classes of feeble-minded, '' It is a very striking method 
of showing the mental deficiency of a member of any one 
of these classes to compare its mental gifts with those 
of children of perfect mind at younger ages." ^^ 

In the same vein, we find Down, in 1887, discussing 
as follows the classification of backward and feeble- 
minded children : '' In any given case we have to ask 
ourselves, can we in imagination put back the age two 
or more years and arrive thus at a time perfectly con- 
sistent with the mental condition of our patient? If he 
be a backward child, we shall have no difficulty in saying 
what period of life would be in harmony with his state. 
If, however, he be an idiot, there is no amount of imag- 
inary antedated age to which the present condition of 
the child corresponds." ^^ 

The concept of mental age is clearly implied, though 
not definitely formulated, in these passages. Mental age 
means a certain degree or amount of intelligence. A 
year's growth in mental age is a unit, although one which 
changes with age, for the measurement of intelligence. 
Each mental age stands for the degree of intelligence 
possessed by the normal child of the corresponding 

® " Observations pour servir a rhistoire de I'idiotie." Les maladies 
mentales, Paris, 1828. 

10 " A Manual for the Classification, Training, and Education of 
the Feeble-Minded, Imbecile, and Idiotic," p. 13. 

""Mental Affections of Childhood and Youth," 1887. 



26 THE MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE 

chronological age. To say that a child has a given mental 
age means simply that he behaves in the manner of the 
average, or normal, child of that age — that he is capable 
of doing the same things. Thus, if a child ten years of 
age can do only the same things that a normal eight-year- 
old child can do, if he passes only the same tests, then, in 
spite of the fact that his chronological age is ten, his 
mental age is only eight ; he is two years mentally retarded. 
On the other hand, if a child of ten is found to be capable 
of the same mental performances as the average twelve- 
year-old child, we say that his mental age is twelve and 
that he is two years mentally advanced. 

Binet and Simon adopted this concept of mental age, 
and arranged their tests in such a manner as to measure 
it. In order to determine what normal children of each 
chronological age could do, they tried out their assort- 
ment of tests on children of all ages and thus settled 
upon those which could be passed by a majority of 
children of each age. In this way, they secured certain 
tests which six-year-old children could pass, but which 
most five-year-olds could not; others which most seven- 
year-olds could pass, but most six-year-olds could not, 
and so on. It is such a series of tests, classified in sets 
according to the age at which normal children ought to 
pass them, that constitutes the Binet-Simon scale for the 
measurement of intelligence. It extends from the age 
of three to the age of fifteen. 

To illustrate the arrangement of these test-perform- 
ances by years, I may cite the original list of accomplish- 
ments, in an abbreviated form, for children of the ages 
three to twelve.^ ^ 

"Goddard, " The Binet-Simon Measuring Scale for Intelligence." 
The Training School, vol. vi, 1910, pp. 146-154. 



THE BINET-SIMON MEASURING SCALE 27 

Mental Age Four Years 

1. Gives sex of self. 

2. Names familiar objects (key, knife and penny). 

3. Repeats correctly three digits, e.g., " 7-2-9." 

4. Tells which of two lines is the longer (5 cms. and 6 cms.). 

Mental Age Five Years 

1. Correctly compares 3 and 12 grams and 6 and 15 grams. 

2. Copies a square of 3 or 4 centimeters well enough to recognize 

it as a square. 

3. Repeats 10 syllables, e.g., " His name is John. He is a very good 

boy." 

4. Counts four pennies placed in a row. 

5. Re-forms a visiting card from the two pieces made by cutting one 

diagonally. 

Mental Age Six Years 

1. Tells whether it is morning or afternoon. 

2. Defines by use at least three of the following: fork, table, chair, 

horse, mama. 

"At four years, half the children define by 'use': it in- 
creases a little at five, and at six practically all define this 
way. Not before nine do the majority give the definitions that 
are * better than by use.' " 

3. Executes three simple commissions given at once. 

4. Indicates right hand and left ear. 

5. Chooses the prettier of two heads, one pretty, the other very 

ugly, when they are shown in pairs. 

Mental Age Seven Years 

1. Counts thirteen pennies placed in a row. 

2. Tells what he sees in pictures. Describes instead of simply 

naming things. 

3. Tells what is lacking when shown pictures of a head lacking an 

eye, a mouth or a nose, or of a head and body lacking arms. 

4. Copies a diamond. 

5. Names promptly four colors— red, blue, green and yellow. 

Mental Age Eight Years 

1. Tells difference between a butterfly and a fly; between wood 

and glass; between paper and pasteboard. 

2. Counts backwards from 20 to i, in 20 seconds. 

3. Names days of the week in 10 seconds. 

4. Tells how much they are worth, when shown three one-cent 

and three two-cent stamps. 

5. Repeats correctly five digits, e.g., *' 4-7-3-9-5 " 



28 THE MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE 

"Mental Age Nine Years 

1. Makes change — 9 cents out of 25. 

2. Gives definitions better than by use. 

3. Names the day of the week, the month, the day of the month, 

and the year. 

4. Recites the months of the year in 15 seconds. 

5. Arranges in correct order a series of weights of 6, 9, 12, 15 and 

18 grams. 

Mental Age Ten Years 

1. Names nine different pieces of money. 

2. Draws two simple geometrical designs from memory, 

3. Repeats six digits. 

4. Answers intelligently simple problem questions, e.g., " What ought 

one to do before undertaking something important?" 

5. Uses three words, as New York, money and river, in one sentence. 

Mental Age Eleven Years 

1. Detects the nonsense in absurd statements." 

2. Uses three words in one sentence (given also at age ten). 

3. Gives sixty words in three minutes. 

4. Finds three words in one minute which rhyme with words like 

day, mill or spring. 

5. Forms a sentence in one minute out of ten printed words in dis- 

connected order, as the following: started — the — for — an— 
early— hour — we — country — at — . 

Mental Age Twelve Years 

1. Repeats correctly seven digits, once in three trials. 

2. Defines charity, justice, goodness. 

3. Repeats a sentence of twenty-six syllables. 

4. Resists suggestion. 

5. Solves problems of facts, (a) "A person who was walking in the 

forest of Fontainebleau suddenly stopped much frightened and 
hastened to the nearest poHce and reported that he had seen 
hanging from the limb of a tree a — what? " (Zj) " My neighbor 
has been having strange visitors. He has received one after 
the other a physician, a lawyer and a clergyman. What has 
happened at the house of my neighbor ? " 

It must be clearly understood that not all children of 
a given mental age will pass all the tests for that age. 
Owing to the unequal degree of development of the differ- 
ent mental functions, it nearly always happens that a child 

"See Chapter X, p. 190. 



REVISIONS OF THE BINET-SIMON SCALE 29 

who fails on one or two of the tests of one age can pass 
some of the tests for the next higher age. Consequently 
the rule for determining the mental age of a child is to 
take the highest mental age for which all tests are passed 
plus one-fifth of a year for each additional test. 

Evidence of the Accuracy of the Revisions of the 
Binet-Simon Scale. — The Binet tests were promptly intro- 
duced into America, chiefly through the translation and 
revision of Dr. Goddard, who used the tests extensively 
and gave them an enthusiastic endorsement. The pub- 
lished data clearly indicated, however, that the tests were 
capable of improvement. At the lower ages they showed 
far more children advanced than retarded, whereas at the 
upper ages they rated the majority of children as retarded. 
Plainly, they were too easy at the lower ages and too hard 
at the upper ages. 

No sooner were these imperfections recognized than 
psychologists in various parts of the country undertook 
their elimination. Elaborate experimental work was 
carried on, and the standards to which these tests had 
to conform in order to be entirely reliable, were taken 
under consideration. As the criteria of reliability were 
established, the tests were revised to conform to them.^* 
Some of the tests were shifted to different ages and others 
replaced by better ones. The amount of painstaking, 
scientific work done upon these tests was enormous. As 
a result, the Binet tests, in their latest form, have an 

" Kuhlmann, " A Revision of the Binet-Simon System for Meas- 
uring the Intelligence of Children," Journal of Psycho-Asthenics, 
Monograph Supplements, vol. i, No. i, 1912, and "The Measurement 
of Mental Development," Faribault, Minnesota, 1917; Yerkes, Bridges 
and Hardwick, " A Point Scale for Measuring Mental Ability," 1915 ; 
and Terman, "The Measurement of Intelligence," 1916, and "The 
Stanford Revision and Extension of the Binet-Simon Scale for 
Measuring Intelligence," 1917. 



30 THE MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE 

unquestioned validity. An examination of the evidence 
makes this clear. There is scarcely an important criterion 
of accuracy with which the tests do not comply. 

The accuracy of the tests is to be judged in two ways : 
First, by the results witli groups of children, and, second, 
by results with individual children. Groups of children 
who are all of the same age offer the advantage that, 
when they are large, it is safe to assume that the older 
the group the greater the average intelligence. We can 
be sure that we have ranked the age groups according 
to intelligence when we have ranked them according to 
age. We thus obtain through the use of groups a natural 
scale of intelligence by which to test our methods before 
applying them to individual children. 

The first problem, then, was to shape the scale for 
measuring mental age so that it was reliable with groups. 
By definition, mental age should equal chronological age 
in the case of the average or median child. The median 
child is one who stands at the middle of a large group 
of children of his own age. Thus, after we have meas- 
ured the mental age of a large group, all of the same 
chronological age, and arranged the mental ages in a 
column from highest to lowest, if we count down from 
the top to the middle of the column, we should find at 
the middle a mental age exactly equal to the chronological 
age of the group. That is, the middle or median mental 
age of a group of children who are equally old in years 
should agree with the chronological age of the group. 
The agreement should be exact and must be established 
for all ages. After* many revisions, this agreement has 
been secured; sO' that now a user of the scale may be 
confident that with a large group of six-year-old children 
the median mental age obtained will be six, and that 



REVISIONS OF THE BINET-SIMON SCALE 31 

with a large group of seven-year-old children, it will be 
seven, etc. 

It is very important to note the distribution of chil- 
dren's mental ages about the median. Most children have 
a mental age very close to the median. The others are 
usually one or two years above or below it, and taper off in 
numbers gradually and symmetrically. This characteristic 
distribution is illustrated fairly well by the following 
results obtained with one hundred Minneapolis school 
children, between ten and eleven years of age, 
chronologically. 

Mental Ages of One Hundred Ten-Year-Old Children 

Mental Age Number of Children 

From 7.5 through 8.0 i 

From 8.0 through 8.5 o 

From 8.5 through 9.0 3 

From 9,0 through 9.5 11 

From 9.5 through lo.o 19 

From lo.o through 10.5 '. 30 

From 10.5 through ii.o 17 

From II.O through 11.5 9 

From 1 1.5 through 12.0 6 

From 12.0 through 12,5 i 

From 12.5 through 13.0 3 

The average chronological age of the group is ten 
years and five months, and the average mental age very 
nearly the same, namely, ten years and four months. 
The boys and girls in the group average about the same 
in chronological age, but the girls are ahead of the boys 
in mental age. The average mental age of the fifty-three 
girls is ten years and six months ; that of the forty-seven 
boys is only ten years and one month. 

We may chart the distribution of these one hundred 
children along the scale of mental age, by constructing 
a figure in which the mental ages are represented along 
its base line and the number of children having each of 



32 THE MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE 



the mental ages by its height. We thus obtain the accom- 
panying figure (Fig. i). 

The irregularity in Fig. i is due to the fact that it is 
based on a comparatively small number of children and 
that it does not take into account fractions of less than 
one-half year in mental age. With a very large group, 
and with measurements in terms of very small fractions 









^. 



^ 



:^ 



::^ 



Fig. I.- 



-Distribution of the mental ages of one hundred ten-year-old 
school children. 



of a year, we should get a smooth curve, resembling what 
is known as a normal distribution curve. This curve 
would be smooth and symmetrical, fitting, as well as 
possible, the outlines of Figure No. i. It would show, 
even better than the figure, that the number of children 
above the median mental age is equal to the number below 
it ; and that as the distance above or below increases the 
number of children decreases. It is sometimes consid- 
ered a sign of accuracy when the mental ages of a large 
group of children to whom the tests are applied turn out 



REVISIONS OF THE BINET-SIMON SCALE 33 

to be distributed symmetrically, in accordance with nor- 
mal distribution, around the median mental age. As 
a matter of fact, however, the distribution curves do 
not prove the accuracy of the tests. Rather they have 
value only insofar as we may assume that accuracy has 
been attained. 

We know that the tests are accurate in regard to the 
average result with large groups. This is proved, as I 
have indicated, by the equality between the median mental 
age and the chronological age of the group. To prove 
their accuracy in individual cases is much more difficult, 
for there is no way to make certain 'that a measurement 
of any particular child's intelligence is correct without 
knowing beforehand how intelligent the child is. And how 
are we to determine the intelligence of a child except by 
the use of our measuring scale? There is no certain 
method. We must go ahead and make our measurements, 
then watch to see whether or not the future success of the 
child harmonizes with them. Of great aid is the rating 
given the child by his teachers and the progress he makes 
in school. 

The most accurate rating of the intelligence of chil- 
dren that can be secured from school work is that obtained 
by classifying children of the same age according to their 
grade. In any school system, children of one certain age 
are scattered over four or five grades ; and it is reasonable 
to suppose that those who are in the lower grades are less 
intelligent than those of the same age in the upper grades. 
Certainly there are many objections to assuming a perfect 
correspondence between school grade and intelligence; 
but it is reasonable to expect a considerable correlation. 
Investisratlon shows that this correlation exists. The 
revised Binet tests show for children of each age a regular 
3 



34 THE MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE 

increase in mental age with the grade attained. For 
example, eleven-year-old children who are still in the 
second or third grade instead of the fourth or fifth, will 
usually be found to be several years below eleven in men- 
tal age, whereas eleven-year-old children who have 
reached the sixth or seventh grade will be found to aver- 
age a year or so above eleven in mental age. Similar 
results have been obtained for all the school ages.^^ 

Exceptions to the correspondence between mental age 
and school standing are very common indeed. A careful 
study of these exceptions, however, usually leads to the 
strongest possible proof of the accuracy of the intelli- 
gence tests. There are two cases very frequently met 
with: One, that of the child who has been promoted 
because of his age regardless of scholastic attainments, the 
other, more serious, that of the child who has lost interest 
in his work and has been retarded because his teacher 
failed to understand his personality or to appreciate his 
mental gifts. The promotion of childrem simply on 
account of their age is a phenomenon with w^iich all 
teachers are familiar; the holding back of really brilliant 
children is not so commonly recognized. By the study 
of these latter cases, however, more readily than in any 
other way, will one acquire respect for the Binet intelli- 
gence tests. As a striking illustration, consider the case 
of Louis R. 

Louis was nine years and ten months old. When 
tested, he was found to have a mental age of twelve years 
and nine months, nearly three years aliead of his chrono- 
logical age. So high a mental age is very unusual for 

" See Kuhlmann, " Some Results of Examining a Thousand 
Public School Children, with a Revision of the Binet-Simon Tests 
of Intelligence by Untrained Examiners." Toiirnal of Psycho- 
Asthenics, vol. xviii, 1914, Pp. 242-245. 



REVISIONS OF THE BINET-SIMON SCALE 35 

a nine-year-old child. It indicated that he had sufficient 
mental ability to do work of the fifth or sixth grade. 
Actually, he was in the *' B " class of the fourth grade. 
Now which was the true indicator of his intelligence, his 
school grade or the mental age given by the intelligence 
tests? His record will show. 

The following extract was taken from the teacher's 
report to the superintendent in January : 

Louis R. was not promoted to the "A" class of the fourth 
grade, because his work in the " B " class does not show continu- 
ous improvement, but is erratic. If he would apply himself he could 
do the work fairly well, but he will do one or two problems in 
arithmetic and let the rest go. He spends most of his time trying 
to make aeroplanes, etc., out of paper, or by whittling them from 
little blocks of wood which he brings to school. He loses interest in 
all school work after a few minutes. He learned to do long division 
with only one explanation — did two problems correctly — then quit 
trying and failed systematically after that. 

The cause of the boy's failure is obvious. His teacher 
could not establish a point of contact between his active 
mind and his school work. He is a healthy, energetic 
German boy whose father is well known all over the 
state as a wealthy and successful cattleman. His parents 
want the boy to have every advantage possible. 

Louis was tested in January, 19 18, and recommended 
for special promotion. He was also transferred to another 
building where the fifth grade teacher was an expert with 
children. 

Inquiry was made in May, 191 8, regarding the boy's 
progress, and the fifth-grade teacher said he had again 
been promoted on trial to *' B " sixth grade — except in 
arithmetic ; she was giving him special help in arithmetic 
out of school hours, so that by fall he could enter the 
"A" sixth class without condition. 

Cases like that of Louis R. are not uncommon. Many 



36 THE MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE 

such children, considered dullards in school, have devel- 
oped into men of undoubted genius. ^^ Oliver Goldsmith 
was regarded as a stupid blockhead by his earlier teacher ; 
it was only when he went to a second school that he found 
a teacher who realized his powerful intellect. Byron was 
the butt of his class because he did not learn his lessons. 
Yet at Harrbw, he found a teacher who recognized his 
talents. " I soon found," said this teacher, *' that a wild 
mountain colt had been committed to my care. But there 
was mind in his eye." Clearly there is a great field of use- 
fulness for the Binet tests in the discovery of superior 
mental abilities which might otherwise pass unnoticed. 

Considering all the evidence, one must concede to the 
Binet tests a high degree of reliability. Their accuracy 
with groups can be demonstrated with mathematical pre- 
cision, and their accuracy in the individual case becomes 
more convincing with use. They certainly offer the best 
means at hand for the appreciation of child intelligence. 
With their aid a more accurate rating can be secured in 
forty minutes than through the teacher's estimates based 
on a year of observation. At the same time, they are not 
perfect ; and now that we have considered the proofs of 
their accuracy, it will be wxU to give attention to some 
of their limitations. 

Criticism of the Binet-Simon Scale. — One of the most 
serious charges made against the Binet tests is that the 
ability to pass them depends too much upon the accidents 
of schooling and of environment, that it is not wholly 
decided by ingrained capacity which alone is properly 
called intelligence, but upon the favorableness of the 
child's early training. It is said that a child who has not 
been to school at all could not pass some of the tests 

"Swift, "Mind in the Making," 1908, pp. 95-115. 



CRITICISM OF THE BINET-SIMON SCALE 37 

which a child who had been in school could manage with- 
out difficulty. That the tests are not altogether free from 
this error may be admitted, but the charge is not so serious 
as it might seem, for the Binet tests are not concerned 
with those things which a child has to be taught, but only 
with those things which a child naturally learns as he 
grows older. 

After all, whether or not a child acquires knowledge 
depends largely upon his innate intelligence. Any ordi- 
nary environment offers abundant opportunities for the 
acquisition of all the knowledge required by the revised 
Binet tests. Whether this little knowledge is acquired 
or not may then be simply a question of the child^s capacity 
to take advantage of his opportunities ; and it is precisely 
this capacity to take advantage of opportunities which, is 
meant by intelligence and which it is the aim of the tests 
to measure. 

It may in general be said that a child's mental age is 
determined by growth of capacities rather than by what 
he learns. I have found that feeble-minded children of 
nine years mental age improve with practice in simple 
mental operations just as rapidly as do normal children 
of the same mental age.^^ Yet in spite of this ability to 
learn, the feeble-minded children did not increase in men- 
tal age. Practically they remained at the mental age of 
nine years. They averaged fourteen years chronologically 
and probably had reached their maximum mental age. 
Evidently, then, the ability to change from a low mental 
age to a higher is not a matter of learning power. It is a 
capacity for mental growth. What a child can learn and 

" Woodrow, " Practice and Transference in Normal and Feeble- 
Minded Children." Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. viii, 
1917, pp. 85-96 and 151-165. 



38 THE MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE 

how fast he can learn, depends upon his mental age; 
but learning does not greatly affect the rate of growth in 
mental age. This is true of adults. They continue to 
learn throughout their lives; but they do not continue 
to increase in mental age after they have reached the 
adult stage. 

Another consideration, sometimes urged as a short- 
coming of the Binet tests is that they fail to detect all 
mental abnonnalities. They do not serve for the diag- 
nosis of such disorders as epilepsy or hysteria, nor for 
the measurement of criminal tendencies. They do not 
always bring to light such defects of character as lazi- 
ness, ungovernable temper, uncontrollable sex impulses, 
and openness to suggestion. These are not valid objec- 
tions, however. The aim of the Binet tests is solely to 
measure intelligence. The analysis of character is a differ- 
ent matter. Nevertheless, the Binet tests have been of 
great value in making clearer the relationship between 
intelligence and character. By their use it has been estab- 
lished that a considerable percentage of persons con- 
victed of crime and immorality are of very low mentality. 
They arc widely used in juvenile courts, where they are 
of great value in enabling the judge to form an idea of 
the probable future of the cliild. They have even saved 
the lives of youthful murderers by proving that the mur- 
derers were imbeciles who could not possibly understand 
the nature and seriousness of their act.^® 

One other limitation of the Binet tests which should 
be kept in mind is that they do not entail a rigid mechani- 
cal procedure which does away with the personality of the 
one who uses it. It is of course true that not the slightest 

" Goddard. " A Brief Report on Two Cases of Criminal Imbe- 
cility." Journal of Psycho-Asthcnics, vol. xix, 1914, pp. 32-35. 



CRITICISM OF THE BINET-SIMON SCALE 39 

detail of the tests may be changed; the directions for 
giving tliem must be strictly followed. Even so, the 
influence of the tester's personality cannot be entirely 
eliminated. And when the measurement is completed, the 
result should never be regarded as an end accomplished, 
but merely as one means toward a better estimate of the 
child's mentality. The Binet tests must always be sup- 
plemented by further observations, and interpreted in the 
light of all the knowledge that can be obtained concerning 
the child's health and physical condition, his school record, 
his parents and his home life. The Binet tests do not 
suspend the need for expert insight into child nature nor 
the need for common sense on the part of the person 
who is to realize their full value. 

All in all, the Binet measuring scale is a wonderful 
achievement. Psychology has made no other single con- 
tribution that is of such great practical value to the science 
and the art of education. The Binet scale has not only 
afforded the means of proving the absolute necessity for 
greater adaptation of education to the possibilities of the 
individual pupil, but it stands as the most serviceable in- 
strument for the determination of those possibilities. It 
is the confident prediction of many educators that intelli- 
gence tests will soon become part of the necessary routine 
of the schoolroom; and in all probability the day is not 
far off. Already they are in extensive use throughout 
the schools of many nations. During the war, it was de- 
cided to give intelligence tests to all soldiers in the United 
States Army. These army tests, being intended for 
adults rather than children, differ from the Binet tests 
in all respects except their aim^ — the measurement of 
intelligence. Intelligence tests are now given by the 
University of Minnesota to all its freshmen, in the pro- 



40 THE MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE 

fessional schools as Avell as in the academic college, and 
have been found of real value. 

Group Tests. — Anticipating the extension of mental 
testing to all school children, psychologists have for some 
time been at Avork on the perfection of group tests for 
children. Group tests cannot take the place of the indi- 
vidual examination. The idea is that they can be made 
sufficiently accurate for rapid surveys to determine those 
who should be tested individually. One such system of 
group tests ^^ is largely an ingenious adaptation of various 
revisions of the Binet tests to group work. It is now 
being used in a survey of the schools of an entire county 
in Minnesota, to locate all cases of doubtful mentality. 
Another system, intended only for children who can read 
and write, is constructed along lines quite different from 
the Binet scale.-^^ Instead of giving different tests at each 
age, it gives the same tests at all ages. These tests, how- 
ever, are not tests which a child either passes or fails, 
but tests in which he obtains .a certain score, which may 
be either high or low, as in a spelling test or an arithmetic 
test. The intelligence of the child is evaluated by com- 
paring tlie scores he malvcs in the various tests Avith 
norms that have been established by giving the tests to 
a large number of children of each age. 

" Frances Lowell, " A Preliminary Report of Some Group Tests 
of General Intelligence," Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. x, 
1 91 9, No. 6. 

''Arthur and Woodrow, "An Absolute Intelligence Scale," 
Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. iii, I9i9> No. 2. 



CHAPTER III 

BRIGHTNESS AND DULLNESS 

Distinction Between Mental Age and Brightness. — 

The word intelligence has two quite distinct meanings, 
which-need to be carefully distinguished. In one sense, 
intelligence is something which increases in amount with 
age. It is that which is measured bj. mental age. In this 
sense of the term, a child of ten years of age has much 
more intelligence than a child of three years of age, even 
if the ten-year-old child is dull and the three-year-old is 
bright. In the other sense of the term, intelligence is 
something that remains more or less constant throughout 
life. This is the sense in which one employs the term 
when he speaks of a child as highly intelligent without 
specifying his age. What one really means, in this case, 
is that the child has more^intelligence than other children 
of his own age. In the first sense of the term, intelligence 
is an absolute amount, like height described in inches; 
in the second, a relation, like height described as tallness 
or shortness. 

Throughout the present discussion the term intelli- 
gence, if unqualified, is used only in the first sense, in the 
sense of mental age. This makes it necessary to decide 
upon a different name for intelligence in the second sense. 
The proposal has been made to use the term brightness, 
meaning by brightness any degree thereof from extreme 
idiocy to genius of the highest order. I have adopted this 
proposal, and shall use the word brightness in this broad 
sense. It is less awkward than the term relative intelli- 

41 



42 BRIGHTNESS AND DULLNESS 

gence. Children who are ordinarily called bright, that is, 
children who are the opposite of dull, we shall term 
superior. Thus, according to this terminology, both dull- 
ness and superiority are degrees of brightness, dullness 
being a low degree of brightness and superiority a high 
degree of brightness. 

I The mental age of a child does not tell us how bright 
\he is. Two children may have the same mental ages and 
yet differ enormously in brightness. Obviously, the mean- 
ing of a given mental age depends upon the clironological 
age that goes with it. If a child's mental age is much less 
than his chronological age, he is dull; if it is greater, he 
is superior. But if we ask how much less or how much 
greater, we immediately raise the w-hole problem of the 
classification of children. The problem is an important 
one. Sensible planning of a child's education must pre- 
suppose an estimate of the degree of his brightness. In 
borderline cases, the whole educational procedure often 
depends upon whether the child is feeble-minded or not; 
and in the case of any child, it is impossible intelligently 
to plan his future and to decide upon the best educational 
methods unless the child has first been properly classified 
as regards his degree of brightness. 

The Lowest Degrees of Brightness. — Definitions in 
Terms of Social Status. — Until recently, the classification 
of children was in a chaotic condition. Particularly in tlie 
case of normal and supernomial children little effort was 
made to distinguish the different grades. These children 
were left to look out for themselves. It was only in the 
lower grades, where the educational and social probleins 
were acute, that the need for classification appeared 
imperative. Here effort centered upon the distinction 



THE LOWEST DEGREES OF BRIGHTNESS 43 

between the normal and the mentally defective, and 
between the various grades of the mentally defective. 

Until the introduction of the Binet tests, the most 
widely accepted definitions of mental defectiveness and 
its degrees were those suggested by the Royal College of 
Physicians in London, and adopted by the Royal Commis- 
sion on the Care and Control of the Feeble-minded.^ 
These definitions distinguish three degrees of mental 
defect, namely, idiocy, imbecility, and feeble-mindedness. 
The feeble-minded person, the highest of these three 
grades, is defined as " one who is capable of earning a 
living under favorable circumstances, but is incapable, 
from mental defect existing from birth, or from an early 
age, (a) of competing on equal terms with his normal 
fellows; or (b) of managing himself and his affairs with 
ordinary prudence." The imbecile, a grade below the 
feeble-minded, is defined as incapable of earning his own 
living, but able to guard himself against common physical 
dangers; the idiot, as unable to guard himself against 
common physical dangers. These definitions are not only 
indefinite, but they could not be applied very well to chil- 
dren. For feeble-minded children, another definition 
was framed : They are " those children who, not being 
imbecile, and not being merely dull and backward, are, by 
reason of mental defect, incapable of receiving proper 
benefit fronl the instruction in the ordinary public ele- 
mentary schools, but are not incapable by reason of such 
defect of receiving benefit in special classes or schools." 

These definitions of the British Royal Commission 
emphasize the social aspect of mental defect. There is 
little doubt that social inefficiency is the most important 

* " Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble- 
Minded." Reports and Minutes of Evidence, 8 vols., 1908. 



44 BRIGHTNESS AND DULLNESS 

practical manifestation of the condition. In an adult, 
social inefficiency means inability to conduct one's self 
without the guardianship of another, and inability to 
perform work sufficiently remunerative to supply one's 
needs. An adult of the highest class of the mentally 
defective can support himself, but only under favorable 
circumstances. In a child, social inefficiency means pri- 
marily inability to profit from the ordinary classes of the 
public schools. The social criterion of mental defective- 
ness calls attention to an important aspect, but beyond 
that it is vague. Moreover, social incompetence may be 
due to other causes than mental weakness.^ 

Definitions in Terms of Mental Age. — Accurate defini- 
tion was clearly impossible without the aid of mental 
measurement. Binet and Simon gave the world a means 
for defining in their scale for measuring mental age. The 
possibility of measuring mental age having been estab- 
lished, tentative definitions of mental defectiveness and 
its degrees, in terms of mental age, were promptly formu- 
lated by the committee on classification of the American 
Association for the Study of the Feeble-minded.^ 

These formulations applied the term feeble-minded- 
ness to all degrees of mental defect, and then divided 
the feeble-minded into three classes, as follows : 

(a) Idiots : Those so deeply defective that their men- 
tal development does not exceed that of a normal child of 
about two years. (&) Imbeciles: Those whose mental 
development is higher than that of an idiot, but does not 
exceed that of a normal child of about seven years, (c) 
Morons : Those whose mental development is above that 

* See Doll, " Clinical Studies in Feeble-Mindedness," 1917, pp. 
23-26. 

'"Report of Committee on Classification of Feeble-Minded." 
Journal of Psycho-Asthenics, vol. xv, 1910, p. 61. 



DEFINITION OF DEGREES OF BRIGHTNESS 45 

of an imbecile but does not exceed that of a child of about 
twelve years. 

The term moron, a Greek word, is a new term,^ adopted 
upon the recommendation of Dr. Goddard, and now in 
common use throughout the country. It signifies a person 
conspicuously lacking in judgment and good sense. The 
desirability of this new term arose from the fact that the 
term feeble-minded, which is used in England to designate 
only the highest class of mental defectives, had long 
been used in America to include all three classes, so 
that it seemed best to continue this use, rather than to 
adopt the English term amentia. A feeble-minded per- 
son in American usage is an ament in the English; and 
a moron, in the American usage, is a feeble-minded per- 
son, in the English. Both countries agree in the use of 
the terms imbecile and idiot. I shall hereafter follow 
the American usage. 

Years of Retardation as a Basis for Definition of 
Degrees of Brightness. — The above definitions of grades 
of feeble-mindedness in terms of mental age are only 
tentative and not entirely adequate. They are workable 
only in regard to adults, for until an individual is fully 
matured, we do not know what mental age he may finally 
attain. To avoid this difficulty, feeble-mindedness has 
sometimes been defined in terms of years of retardation, 
found by subtracting the mental age from the chronologi- 
cal age. It is necessary to remember, however, that years 
of retardation at an early age are much more serious than 
at a later one. Thus, a child of four who is three years 

* It conforms with the term morosis, used over a century ago by 
Linnaeus to designate the condition of severe feeble-mindedness. 
Nowadays, to express the condition of a moron, the term moronity is 
used in place of morosis. 



46 BRIGHTNESS AND DULLNESS 

retarded, and therefore one year old mentally, is far more 
defective than a child of ten who is retarded a like number 
of years, and consequently of mental age seven. The for- 
mer child, by the age of ten, will have a mental age far 
below seven, very likely one of not over three. 

In general, the degree of retardation increases as a 
child becomes older. His normal companions leave him 
farther and farther behind. This is illustrated by the 
following diagram (Fig. 2), representing growth in 
mental age. This diagram is largely schematical, though 
based on experimental data concerning the decrease in 
the size of the step from one age to the next as the higher 
ages are reached. That this decrease actually exists can 
be easily observed. For example, the difference in mental 
attainments between a three-year-old and a four-year-old 
child are plainly greater than that between a fourteen- 
year-old and a fifteen-year-old. In both cases, it is true, 
the difference is one year of mental age, but a year of men- 
tal age at the younger ages means a bigger change than 
it does at the higher ages. 

The verdict of common observation in this matter is 
corroborated by the results of scientific tests. This may 
be seen by a comparison of the percentages of children 
passing certain tests. For example, a mental test which 
fifty per cent, of three-year-olds can pass will be passed 
by almost all four-year-olds, at any rate, by ninety per 
cent, of them. On the other hand, it is practically impos- 
sible to find a test which only fifty per cent, of fourteen- 
year-olds can pass which can yet be passed by ninety (or 
even seventy) per cent, of fifteen-year-olds. Considerable 
actual data exists on this matter. Thus Bobertag, who 
gave a number of the Binet tests to both seven- and eight- 
year-old children, found that while the average percentage 



DEFINITION OF DEGREES OF BRIGHTNESS 47 

of seven-year-olds passing the tests was only 45, the aver- 
age percentage of eight-year-olds was over 76, an increase 
of over 31 per cent. He then tried the same experiment 
with another selection of Binet tests upon children aged 
eleven and twelve. In this case, he found that the per- 
centage of twelve-year-olds who passed the tests was only 
16 greater than the percentage of eleven-year-olds pass- 
ing. Since the increase in the percentage of children 
passing the tests is twice as great between the ages of 
seven and eight as between the ages of eleven and twelve, 
we are entitled to conclude that the differences in mental 
ability between the former ages is greater than that 
between the latter. In general, the difference between two 
groups of children of different ages, in the percentages 
passing the same tests, serves as a measure of the differ- 
ence in mental ability between the two groups. On this 
basis, it is possible to arrive at an estimate of the size of 
the step in mental ability between any two ages. It is 
from such estimates that the accompanying diagram 
is derived. 

The diagram shows that the difference between the 
dull child and the bright one becomes much greater as they 
grow older. Not only does the difference when measured 
in years of mental age become greater, but even allowing 
for the fact, as I have done in the diagram, that a year's 
mental growth at the higher ages amounts to less than 
it does at the lower ones, the difference in intelligence still 
increases with age. This is shown in the diagram by 
the fact that the three curves become farther apart as 
they ascend to the right. A small distance between the 
curves at the age of one or two becomes a large distance 
at the age of fifteen or sixteen. This means that slight 
mental retardation at the age of two, when measured 



48 



BRIGHTNESS AND DULLNESS 



in terms of years, is as serious as great retardation a 
the age of fifteen. One year of retardation at two year 
of age is many times as serious as one year at fifteen year 
of age. Because a year of mental retardation means dif 
ferent things at different ages, it is not very convenien 
to describe the brightness of children in terms of such ; 




5 6 7 8 9 10 U 12 13 14 J5 16 17 15 19 dO 
Chronological A^ — ► 

Fig. 2. — Growth in mental age. 

unit. This consideration led to a very helpful proposa 
by several authorities for the adoption of the " in 
telligence quotient." 

Intelligence Quotients. — The intelligence quotien 
represents a comparison between the intelligence of ; 
particular child and that of normal children of his owi 
age. It is the quotient obtained by dividing a child' 
mental age by his chronological age. It thus expresse 
a child's intelligence as a fraction of the intelligence tha 



INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENTS 49 

is normal for his age. If he has more intelligence than 
normal, his intelligence quotient is more than one; if 
he has less intelligence than normal, it is less than one. 
For example, if the mental age of a child ten years old 
is twelve, his intelligence quotient is the quotient obtained 
by dividing twelve by ten, or 1.2; if his mental age is 
ten, he is normal, and his intelligence quotient is i.o; but 
if his mental age is only seven, his intelligence quotient 
is 0.7. A mental age expresses an amount of intelli- 
gence, whereas an intelligence quotient expresses a degree 
of brightness. 

The worth of an intelligence quotient depends largely 
upon the extent to which it remains constant throughout 
the years of childhood. If the intelligence quotient of a 
child remains constant, there is no other item of infor- 
mation that is of greater interest to his parents or of 
greater value in directing his education, for at any age 
his mental age will be the same fraction of his chronologi- 
cal age, and we can predict very early just what intelli- 
gence he will have when he is grown. Thus if, at the age 
of four, a child's mental age is three and his intelligence 
quotient is seventy-five per cent., we can predict that at 
the age of sixteen his intelligence quotient will still be 
seventy-five per cent, and that consequently his mental 
age will be seventy-five per cent, of sixteen or twelve. 

The data at hand indicates that intelligence quotients 
tend as a rule to remain sufficiently constant for practical 
purposes.^ We still need many more measurements of 
the same children at several different ages; for only by 
such measurements can we determine how often and how 

^ Kuhlmann, " What Constitutes Feeble-Mindedness ? " Journal 
of Psycho- Asthenics, vol. xix, 191 5, p. 232; and Terman, "The Stan- 
ford Revision and Extension of the Binet-Simon Scale for Meas- 
uring Intelligence," 191!^ pp. 51-61. 

4 



50 BRIGHTNESS AND DULLNESS 

much the quotients change as the children grow older. 
Such tests as have been made, however, indicate that chil- 
dren with a high quotient retain that high quotient as they 
grow older ; that those who are average remain average ; 
and that those with a low quotient retain their low quo- 
tient. In the feeble-minded — tliose with very low 
quotients — there is some tendency for the intelligence 
quotient to decrease with age. The facts, then, offer little 
basis for the common hope that a child who is lacking in 
brightness at an early age will " catch up " later, perhaps 
by a spurt at the time of puberty. On the other hand, 
there is every reason to expect that a child of a high degree 
of brightness will maintain his mental superiority all along 
the way into adult life. 

There must of course be some age at which the intelli- 
gence quotient begins to decrease. This is the age at 
which the growth of intelligence ceases, beyond which 
there is no increase in mental age. Now since chrono- 
logical age, which is the divisor used in obtaining the 
intelligent quotient, must continue to increase as long as 
the individual lives, it is evident that when mental age, 
the numerator, stops increasing, the intelligence quotient 
must begin to decrease. For example, suppose the mental 
age of the average person does not increase after the age 
of sixteen; then an individual who was just normal at 
sixteen and hence had an intelligence quotient of i.o at 
that age, would at the age of thirty-two have a quotient 
of only one-half, since he would at the age of thirty-two 
still have the same mental age of sixteen, and conse- 
quently have for his intelligence quotient tlie quotient 
obtained by dividing sixteen by thirty-two. 

It may seem curious to speak of the cessation of 
growth in intelligence before the prime of life, usually 



INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENTS 51 

not reached before the age of thirty-five or forty. This is 
because people commonly overlook the distinction between 
capacity and the acquisitions of experience. Intelligence 
refers only to the former. It means mental power, and 
not knowledge acquired by the use of that power. It is 
general ability, not expertness along some one line. The 
age at which intelligence reaches its maximum is the age 
at which there is no further growth of such abilities as 
those of memorizing, of concentrating attention, learn- 
ing, or reasoning about new topics. It is certain that, for 
the average individual, this age is below twenty. He may 
go on acquiring knowledge and wisdom all his life, but 
he works always with the same mental tools. 

The cessation of growth in intelligence is so gradual 
that it has not yet been possible to determine with precision 
at what age it takes place. There is some evidence, how- 
ever, that, while individuals vary considerably, on the 
average they reach their maximum intelligence at the age 
of sixteen. Evidence is offered by the fact that average 
persons sixteen years of age have been found to pass the 
same tests as can average persons of any age beyond six- 
teen. Or, putting it the other way around, we may say 
that the average adult has the same mental age as the 
average sixteen-year-old. For example, the majority of 
a group, made up of business men of little education, and 
of high school students over sixteen years of age, were 
found to have the mental age of sixteen.^ 

Now if the normal adult does not reach a mental age 
higher than that of sixteen, how are we to state in terms 
of mental age the brightness of a superior adult? Since 
any mental age is defined as that degree of intelligence 

'Terman, op. cit., p. 50. 



52 BRIGHTNESS AND DULLNESS 

possessed by the average normal individual of that age, 
and the average normal individual does not reach a mental 
age above sixteen, it seems impossible to have mental 
ages above sixteen. Strictly speaking, it is. The difficulty 
may be arbitrarily overcome, however, by taking as tests 
for seventeen-year-old intelligence a set of tests which, 
can be passed by only a certain percentage of tliose who 
pass the sixteen-year-old tests. By similar procedure, tests 
may be established for still higher, theoretical, mental 
ages. In calculating the mental quotient of an adult, then, 
one would proceed as usual, except that he would divide 
the obtained mental age by sixteen, no matter how much 
above sixteen the chronological age might be. 

On the whole, the intelligence quotient serves as a fairly 
satisfactory index of brightness in children. The difficul- 
ties which it offers with adults do not exist with children 
up to the age of fifteen or sixteen. One should of course 
be extremely cautious in making predictions. One cannot 
say tliat because a child has a mental age of four at six 
that he will have a mental age of eight at twelve. All 
that can be said is that at twelve he is more likely to 
have a mental age of eight than any other mental age. 
The intelligence quotient can not be expected to remain 
constant except for the average. Even so, it offers the 
best basis at hand for the classification of children in 
regard to brightness. It can be used to describe any 
degree of brightness from idiocy to genius. 

Application of Intelligence Quotients to the Definition 
of All Degrees of Brightness. — Before applying tlie intelli- 
gence quotient to the definition of various classes of chil- 
dren, it is necessary first to consider what variation in 
this quotient exists among children of a given age. Meas- 



APPLICATION OF INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENTS 53 

urements by means of the Binet-Simon scale have clearly 
established the fact, strongly suspected before/ that there 
is no gap or sharp line of separation between any two 
grades of brightness. The distribution of mental quo- 
tients is the same as that of mental ages.^ At each 
chronological age, we find children of each degree of 
brightness from idiocy up to genius. They occur in num- 
bers which gradually increase as we pass from idiocy to 
the medium degrees of intelligence, and then gradually 
fall off again as we pass on up to the highest grade. 

Because decrease in the number of any class, as we 
proceed in either direction from the average, is gradual, 
the boundary lines between one class and another are some- 
what arbitrarily drawn. Wherever we draw them, there 
will always be a large number of '' borderline cases." 
For example, what mental quotient we select as the bound- 
ary between the feeble-minded child and the " dull but 
normal '* one, depends merely upon what percentage 
of the population we wish to term feeble-minded. If we 
agree to define feeble-mindedness as the dullest one per 
cent.,^ then we will take as its upper boundary an intelli- 
gence quotient of seventy per cent., since one per cent, of 
children have an intelligence quotient of seventy per 
cent, or below. Admitting the arbitrariness of all 
definitions, we may tentatively accept the following 
system of classification. 

^ Norsworthy, " The Psychology of Mentally Deficient Children,'' 
1906, p. 80. 

See previous chapter, p. 32. 

' See Pintner and Paterson, " A Psychological Basis for the Diag- 
nosis of Feeble-Mindedness," Journal of Criminal Law and Crimi- 
nology, vol. vii, 1916, and J. B, Miner, " A Percentage Definition of 
Intellectual Deficiency," Proceedings^ of the Twenty-fourth Annual 
Meeting of the American Psychological Association. Psychological 
Bulletin, vol. xiii, 1916, p. 89. 



54 



BRIGHTNESS AND DULLNESS 
Classification of Brightness Degrees 



Class 



/. 0." 



Percentage of 

all children 

included 



" Near" genius or genius 

Very superior 

Superior 

Nomial, or average 

Dull, rarely feeble-minded 

Borderline, sometimes dull, often 

feeble-minded 

Feeble-minded . 

Moron 

Imbecile 

Idiot 



Above 1.40 

1. 20-1. 40 

1.10-1.20 

.90-1.10 

.So- .90 

.70- .80 

Below .70 

.50- .70 

.20 or .25- .50 

Below .20 or .25 



0.25 

(^■75 
13.00 
60.00 
13.00 

6.00 

1. 00 

•75 

.19 

.06 



* I. Q. is a common abbreNnation for intelligence quotient. 

The above table shows that the majority of children, 
namely, sixty per cent., belong in the class called normal. 
Above and below the noniial are the superior and the dull, 
each composing- thirteen per cent, of the total number. 
In place of the tenn superior, we could substitute that of 
bright. In ordinar}^ usage, brightness means superiority, 
but, as I have explained, the term brightness is needed 
in order to include all degrees of relative intelligence. 
Consequently, for brightness in the narrow sense, the word 
superiority is preferable, because it prevents confusion. 

There are several classes of children not mentioned iti 
die table. These are usually not defined with any accu- 
racy. One of these is the backward class. The term 
backward would be a useful one to designate children who 
appear to be dull, but whose dullness, there is reason to 
believe, is only apparent or temporary. Then the term 
dull would be used when the inferiority was innate and 
presumably permanent and the tenn bavkzcard when there 
was reason to believe that it was only temporary, and 
would be outgrown. The class called mentally retarded, 



APPLICATION OF INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENTS 55 

and that called subnormal, includes all the classes below 
the grade of normal. Occasionally one hears the rather 
ambiguous phrase, dull but normal. This expression is 
intended to emphasize the fact that the child is not feeble- 
minded. It means dull but not feeble-minded. 

In this classification of brightness degrees, it will be 
observed that the significance of a mental quotient is some- 
times doubtful. This is indicated in the table in the case 
of quotients falling between seventy and eighty, and 
jbetween eighty and ninety. The reason for this is that the 
exact diagnostic significance of a mental quotient is always 
doubtful. This is chiefly because of three considerations. 

First, all systems of tests yet devised are somewhat 
ambiguous in respect to what they measure. They aim 
to measure intelligence; but, admitting that they succeed 
fairly well in this aim, it must yet be conceded that the 
measurements are not entirely free from error. To meas- 
ure intelligence, they would have to measure capacity 
altogether apart from learning, practice, or opportunity, 
and apart from any effects due merely to the chronological 
age of the child, that is, to mere maturity. 

A second consideration is that, entirely apart from the 
question of what the tests measure, there is always present 
in a particular case the possibility of a large error in the 
accuracy of the measurement. It is impossible to be 
positive in any individual case that the real mental age 
does not differ considerably from the one actually 
obtained. This remains true no matter how carefully 
the tests are given, for there remains the possibility that 
the particular tests used are not well adapted to testing 
the intelligence of the particular case at hand. 

The third consideration affecting the interpretation 



56 BRIGHTNESS AND DULLNESS 

of intelligence quotients is that standards are different 
in different groups of people. They vary with race, social 
class, and sex. I shall therefore discuss the effect of each 
of these. The facts are very interesting and of immense 
importance in the understanding of social questions. 

Race, Class and Sex Differences in Intelligence. — 
The matter of race differences obviously raises important 
questions. One of these is the age at which the different 
races reach their maximum development of intelligence. 
There is some evidence that races vary considerably in this 
respect. For example, it appears that the aboriginal chil- 
dren of South Australia complete their growth in intelli- 
gence several years earlier than do white children.^ ^ 

Another question is that of types or kinds of intelli- 
gence. It may be that there are no racial differences in 
type, so far as general intelligence itself is concerned. 
But we can measure intelligence only through the perform- 
ances in which it is manifested; and it is certain that dif- 
ferent races manifest their intelligence in different ways. 
If different races show different types of intelligence, or 
rather, if they show their intelligence in different ways, 
it becomes necessary to have different sets of tests for 
dift'erent races. 

In America, where the race problem is acute, the dif- 
ference between white and colored children is an inter- 
esting subject. In an investigation conducted in Colum- 
bia, South Carolina,^^ it was found that, as we should 
expect, the majority of white children tested " at age." 
The largest number of colored children, on the other 

^° Porteus, " Mental Tests with Delinquents and Australian 
Aboriginal Children." Psychological Rcvieiv, vol. xxiv, 1917, p. ^2. 

" Strong, " White and Colored Children Measured by the Binet- 
Simon Measuring Scale of Intelligence." Pedagogical Seminary, vol. 
XX, 1913, pp. 485-513. 



RACE, CLASS AND SEX DIFFERENCES 57 

hand, tested one year below age. It follows, then, that 
if we take tests that have been standardized for white chil- 
dren and apply them to colored children the latter will not 
do so well as the white children. If we use such tests in 
the diagnosis of brightness, we obtain a very much larger 
percentage of feeble-mind edness for the colored popula- 
tion than for the white. Some people, no doubt, would 
find no objection to this result ; and, in itself, it is extremely 
valuable information. Yet, whatever we may think of the 
relative intelligence of the negro and the white man, in 
diagnosing the case of an individual negro, it hardly 
seems proper to call him dull if, as a matter of fact, he 
is a normal negro. 

Fully as important as race differences are those due 
to social status. It has been well established that, on 
the average, children of the " lower '' classes — the labor- 
ing classes — the wage earners and the men of small busi- 
ness — have a lower mental age than children of the 
** higher " classes — the professional classes, and the suc- 
cessful business men, always providing that the chrono- 
logical ages are the same. 

One interesting study of this highly important matter 
was conducted by the school teachers of Breslau, Ger- 
many. This city maintained two elementary public 
schools, one called the Vorschule and the other the Volk- 
schule. The Vorschule was attended by children of the 
higher social classes, whereas the Volkschule was made up 
of children of the laboring and lower business classes. 
Children could enter the gymnasium, with its nine-year 
curriculum preparing for the University, after three years 
of preparation in the Vorschule, but only after four years 
in the Volkschule. Now, upon the demand for a common 
school for all classes to replace the Vorschule and the 



S8 BRIGHTNESS AND DULLNESS 

Volkschule, an investigation was made of the intelligence 
of children in the two schools by means of a revision of 
the Binet scale. It was found that the children of the 
select Vorschule did much better than those of the Volk- 
schule, nine-year-old boys in the former attaining the 
average of ten-year-old boys in the latter.^ ^ 

In the United States, the situation is similar to that 
in Breslau. For example, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a 
comparison was made of children in the kindergarten and 
first grade of two schools, one of which was located in a 
" good " neighborhood and the other in one of the poorer 
sections of the city. Six-year-old children from the good 
neighborhood were found to do better than seven-year-old 
children from the poorer one.^^ 

Another investigation consisting of a study of the 
brightness of children according to the occupation of their 
fathers was made in Columbus, Ohio.^^ The results 
obtained are summarized in the accompanying table. 

On the whole, the data at hand indicates that the dif- 
ference in brightness between children of tlie lower and 
upper classes is marked. The difference increases with 
the age of the children, until at the age of fourteen the 
children of the superior classes are about one year of 
mental age in advance, and those of the inferior classes 
about one year of mental age behind, the average. ^^ 

" Hoffman, " Vergleichende Intelligenzpriifungen an Vorschiilern 
und Volkschiilern." Zeitschrift filr Angewandte Psychologie, vol. 
viii, 1914, pp. 102-120. 

" Yerkes and Anderson, " The Importance of Social Status as 
Indicated by the Results of the Point Scale Method of Measuring 
Mental Capacity." Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. vi, 1915, 
pp. 137-150. 

"Bridges and Coler, "The Relation of Intelligence to Social 
Status." Psychological Review, vol. xxiv, 1917, pp. 1-31. 

" See Terman " The Measurement of Intelligence," p. y2. 



RACE, CLASS AND SEX DIFFERENCES 59 



Mental Age of Children According to Social Status of 
Parents 



Social status 



Professional : Profess- 
ors, doctors, law- 
yers, editors 

Salesmen : Including 
insurance and real 
estate 

Proprietors: Also 
managers, officers 
and contractors . . . , 

Clerical workers: 
Clerks, boolckeep- 
ers, accountants, 
cashiers 

Skilled laborers: 
Mechanics, metal 
workers, building 
trades . . 

Unskilled laborers. . . 

Teamsters 



No. 
chil- 
dren 
tested 



32 

39 
34 

17 



63 
60 

18 



Chronological 



7 yrs. 3 mos. 
7 yrs. 6 mos. 
7 yrs. 10 mos. 

7 yrs. 10 mos. 



8 yrs. o mos. 
8 yrs. o mos. 
7 yrs. 10 mos. 



Mental age 



9 yrs. 8 mos. 

9 yrs. 2 mos. 

9 yrs. I mo. 

9 yrs. I mo. 



7 yrs. 10 mos. 
7 yrs. I mos. 
7 yrs. o mos. 



Intelli- 
gence 
quotient 



1.33 



1.22 



1. 16 



1. 16 



.98 
.89 
.89 



Similar conclusions have been reached regarding the 
school success of children. One study, made in Pitts- 
burgh, finds that fifty per cent, of the children who are 
well advanced in their school work come from homes 
which have telephones, and that only nineteen per cent, of 
those who are below grade come from such homes. ^^ If 
we can consider a home's possession of a telephone of 
any value as an index of its economical standing, clearly 
those children coming from the homes financially com- 
fortable do better in school than those from poor homes. 
This finding agrees perfectly with the fact that children 
from better homes have a higher level of intelligence. 

" Kornhauser, " The Economic Standing of Parents and the In- 
telligence of Their Children." Journal of Educational Psychology, 
vol. ix, 1918, pp. 159-164. 



6o BRIGHTNESS AND DULLNESS 

Besides a child's race and social class, we have to take 
into consideration his sex. There is a slight difference in 
type of intelligence between boys and girls. The boys 
seem to excel in some tests and the girls in others. The 
latest studies indicate, moreover, that girls are slightly 
superior to boys in brightness at all ages from the very 
earliest up to fourteen. The difference is slight, and 
amounts, at most ages, to not more than three or four 
per cent. Up to the age of fourteen, the intelligence 
quotient of boys standing at the middle of their age 
group is usually about ninety-seven or ninety-eight per 
cent, whereas that of girls at the middle of their age 
group is one or two over one hundred per cent.^'^ 

In spite of all these complications, the intelligence 
quotient affords a very useful and easily understood 
medium for the expression of a child's brightness. It 
should never be regarded as a mathematically exact diag- 
nosis of mentality. It is but one item, and needs careful 
interpretation, not only in the light of the child's race, 
social class, and sex, but also in the light of his physical 
condition and his entire past history. 

" Terman, op. cit., pp. 62-83. 



CHAPTER IV 

BRAINS 

The Relation of Mind to Body. — One of the striking 
features of modern psychology is the attention given to 
the relation of intelligence to the bodily organism. An 
extremely close connection has been found between the 
activity of the body and tliat of the mind. This connec- 
tion is due primarily to the inseparable association of 
the mind with that part of the body, enclosed within the 
upper portion of the skull, known as the brain, or cere- 
brum. The brain is connected with the rest of the body 
through the nervous system, of which it is a part, and 
through the circulation of the blood. Intelligence is con- 
nected with the body as a whole, but solely through the 
agency of the brain, so that the most fundamental of the 
relations of intelligence to the body is its relation to the 
brain. This relation is discussed in the present chap- 
ter. The relation of intelligence to other bodily fea- 
tures and to general physical development will be discussed 
in the two following chapters. 

It is a well-established fact that all mental processes 
are dependent upon accompanying brain processes. No 
mental process can occur without a corresponding brain 
process; no sensation can be felt, no object can be per- 
ceived or remembered, and no problem solved through the 
aid of judgment and reason excapt through the function- 
ing of the brain. In view of this intimate association of 
all mental processes with brain processes, we should expect 
to find a close parallel between Intelligence and brain 

6i 



62 BRAINS 

development. Many able scientists have investigated the 
matter. They have sought to find out just what are the 
differences between the brains of beings possessing differ- 
ent degrees of intelligence. A great deal more work needs 
to be done to make our knowledge definite and complete 
in detail, but the main features of the correlation be- 
tween brain and intelligence are beginning to be fairly 
w-ell established. 

The Relation of Brain Development to the Evolution 
of Animal Intelligence.— The relation of the brain to intel- 
ligence may be studied in various ways. Most studies 
have dealt either with brain weight or with brain struc- 
ture, particularly with its minute structure as revealed 
by the microscope. Of these two types, the latter has 
proved much the more enlightening ; but both are valuable. 
Both types of investigation have been made on animals, 
on children and on adults. Those on children deal with 
the changes that occur in the brain wath growth in in- 
telligence, and it is with these that we are most concerned. 
The studies on animals and adults, however, also de- 
serve attention. 

Examination of the brains of animals, as we follow 
the path of their evolution from those of lowest intelli- 
gence up to man, discloses a direct relationship between 
the development of the brain of a species and its intelli- 
gence. This relationship is show^n in the increased w^eight 
and the increased complexity of structure of the brains 
of the higher animals. Concerning brain weight, little 
needs be said. It Is directly related to Intelligence, but 
only in a rough w^ay, and only after corrections are made 
for a number of factors such as body w^eight, proportion 
of fat, and size of the skeleton. 
- "Studies of the microscopic structure of the brain deal 



EVOLUTION OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE 63 

mainly with the structure of its outer shell. This shell, 
called the cerebral cortex, is known to be the part of the 
brain, or cerebrum, most intimately associated with the 
operations of the mind. It contains millions of nerve cells, 
called neurones. Each of these neurones has a large 
cell body from which extend a number of branches or 
fibres, which connect the cells with each other and with 
other parts of the nervous system. The neurones are 
arranged in several more or less distinct cortical layers, 
of which the thickest are the pyramidal layers, so called 
because they contain cell bodies which are shaped like 
pyramids, with their apex pointing towards the brain's 
surface. There is considerable evidence that these pyra- 
midal layers are the ones which are most closely con- 
nected with the higher mental processes. Besides the 
pyramidal cells, there are numerous other types, most of 
which are shown in Fig. 3. 

Ascending the scale of vertebrates, an investigator 
finds a number of very decided changes in the cerebral 
cortex. There is an increase in the number of distinguish- 
able layers of neurones and an increase in their thickness. 
At the same time there is an improvement in the structure 
of the individual neurones. The cell bodies of the neu- 
rones acquire a more finished appearance and show a 
marked increase in the number and length of the fibres 
branching from them.^ 

The differences in the cortex between the lower and 
the higher animals are most decided in the case of the 
pyramidal layer. The increase in thickness is far greater 
in this layer than in the others. This layer in the dog 
IS one-half as thick as in the monkey, and in the monkey 

* Ramon y Cajal, Revue Scientifique, 4th series, vol. iv, 1895, 
p. 706. 



// 



/// 



tv 




Pig. 3. — Diagrammatic representation of the COTtical layers and of 
the different t^^pes of neurones. (After Starr, Strong and Leaming, 
"Atlas of Nerve Cells," 1896, p. 72,) /, superficial layer; //, layer of 
small pyramidal cells; ///, layer of large pyramidal cells; / F, deep layer; 
F, white matter made up of connecting fibres. 



EVOLUTION OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE 65 

it is three-fourths as thick as in the human being. *' As 
a very rough analogy," writes Bolton, " the pyramidal 
layer of the dog may be compared with that of a still- 
bom infant; and the pyramidal layer of the rheisus 
(monkey) with that of an imbecile." ^ He claims that 
very striking differences between man and the animals 
exist in the pyramidal layer of the anterior portion of 
the cortex known as the frontal lobes. 

The pyramidal layer of the higher animals differs 
from that of the lower ones, not only in its greater 
thickness and the greater number of its component cells, 
but also, far more than does any other layer, by the 
degree of development of its cells. Development of a 
nerve cell can be followed by the increase in the size 
of the cell body, and change in its shape and texture, 
and also in the number and length of its fibres. Great 
variation exists in the degree of development of the pyra- 
midal cells in different species. In lower species, the 
development of these cells is very rudimentary, and even 
in the adult brain of these species they show little change 
from their primitive embryonic condition. 

That the degree of development of the individual 
cells is as important as the thickness of a cortical layer, 
is well illustrated in the guinea-pig. The guinea-pig's 
intelligence is of a low order; yet the animal possesses a 
pyramidal layer of considerable thickness. According 
to the observations of Watson, however, the cells of 
this layer in the adult are advanced but little beyond 
their condition in the new-born animal, and development 

in most cases is so incomplete that it is difficult to credit 

I ± .i » ». 1 1 ' — — — — — — -"^ — '■ ■ ■ ' ' ' " 

' " A Contribution to the Localization of Cerebral Function, 
Based on tlie Ginico-Pathological Study of Mental Disease." Brain, 
vol. xxxiii, 1910, pp. 106-115. 



66 BRAINS 

them with much functional vahie. This similarity between 
the pyramidal layer of the adult and the new-boni animal, 
writes Watson, '* affords a ready explanation of Miss 
Allan's observation that there is in the case of the guinea- 
pig" no increase in complexity of psychological processes 
after the third day of life. It also affords a striking 
example of the fact that actual depth alone of a cortical 
layer is not to be altogether relied upon, when endeavoring 
to compute the functional significance of such a layer." ^ 

Thus, from the study of the weight as wxll as the 
microscopic structure of the brain, it is evident that the 
intelligence of an animal species depends upon its brain 
development. The higher animals have a greater relative 
brain weight and a better developed cortex. The cortical 
layers, particularly the pyramidal, are thicker and contain 
more numerous and better developed cells. 

The Development of the Brain in Children. — It has 
long been established that the stages in the development 
of a human being run roughly parallel to those in the 
evolution of animal species. Consequently, we should 
expect to find that changes occur, in the brain of an indi- 
vidual human being as he develops into an adult, similar 
to those met with in passing from the lower animals to 
the higher ones. This expectation, we shall find, is 
entirely justified. 

As regards the changes iia the brain which occur with 
the growth of the human child, we have to consider again 
both brain weight and microscopic structure. European 
cases furnish tlie most reliable and extensive data on 
increase in brain weight. Dr. Richard Scammon, profes- 

' " The Mammalian Cerebral Cortex, with Special Reference to 
Its Comparative Histology." Archives of Neurology, vol. iii, 1907, 
pp. 49-117. 



BRAIN DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN 67 

sor of anatomy in the University of Minnesota, has 
recently gone over all the existing data with great care. 
On the basis of all reliable material, excluding cases of 
disease known directly to affect brain weight, he has con- 
structed a curve of brain growth which is probably the 
most accurate ever drawn. This curve, as yet unpub- 
lished, he has very kindly furnished me, and it appears 
in figure No. 4. The irregularities in the curve at the 
higher ages in all probability have no significance. They 
are due simply to an insufficient number of cases and the 
fact that the weights for different ages are necessarily 
those of the brains of different children. 

The curves of growth in brain weight show some 
points of very great interest. The most striking thing 
about the growdi of the brain is the very early age at 
which the greater part of it is completed. Even at birth, 
the brain is relatively large. It has already attained the 
fourth part of its final weight, whereas most of the organs 
of the body at birth have only the tenth to the fourteenth 
part of their ultimate weight. During the first year of 
life, the brain grows much more rapidly than at any later 
time and increases two and one-half times in weight. 
During the next few years, it continues to grow at a 
reduced but still rapid rate, until hy the middle of the 
fifth year, it has reached over ninety per cent, of its final 
weight. After the age of five there is only a very small 
increase, which takes place very slowly, and which is 
completed at the age of fifteen. According to Scammon, 
there is probably no increase in brain weight after fifteen 
years, and in some cases the entire adult brain weight is 
acquired by the seventh year. A period of increased brain 
growth at puberty has been described, but Scammon*s 



68 



BRAINS 



examination of practically all tlie published data on brain 
weights in children fails to confirm this observation. 



1500 



10 11 [I O 14 15 le 



400'- 



300- 

m 



100 



J L 



T I — I — I — I — r 




1 L L 



J L 



J L 



1 £ 3 4 5 6 7 ft 9 10 U 12. 13 H 15 IS 
Age inYeara — > 

Fig. 4. — The growth of the brain in weight (by Idndness of Dr. 
Scammon). The continuous line is the curve for boys and the dotted 
line the curve for girls. 

A feature of the cerebrum of children which is quite 
distinctive in tlie relatively poor development of the 



BRAIN DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN 69 

frontal lobes. In the new-born child these lobes are 
comparatively inconspicuous, and consequently have a 
greater growth to accompHsh after birth than have the 
other parts of the cerebrum.* 

The fact that the brain completes such a large propor- 
tion of its total growth during the first few years of life 
explains why it is that feeble-mindedness always appears, 
if at all, at a very early age. Although most feeble- 
minded children are born so, it is known that a consider- 
able percentage become feeble-minded after birth. But 
it is a remarkable fact that no child ever becomes feeble- 
minded after the age of four of five, the age at which the 
brain reaches almost its full weight. Now if the brain of 
a child who is not born feeble-minded is well nourished 
during the first four or five years, by that time it will 
have completed most of its growth. At that age, then, he 
is comparatively safe, for his brain will already have 
developed into whatever is in keeping with the potentiali- 
ties present at birth. 

It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the really 
critical years of a child's life are the years before he enters 
school. The age of puberty is often spoken of as a critical 
period, and no doubt it is; but it is incomparably less 
critical than the first few years of life. There is strong 
evidence indicating that the level of brightness of a child 
is determined during these years, whether he be dull or 
normal. This is indicated by a tendency on the part of 
intelligence quotients to remain constant after the age of 
five, or earlier. As long as an intelligence quotient 
remains constant, the brightness of the child is not 
changed, for, as the preceding chapter explained, bright- 

* Pflaunder and Schlossmann, " The Diseases of Children," 2d 
edition, 1912, vol. iv, p. 124. 



70 B1>L\1NS 

ncss is nirasuivd hy the intelligence qnotient. Now the 
constancy oi intellii^ence (jiioticnts may he far from per- 
fect ; hnt. it is i^ieat enini«;h to indicate thai the htij^htness 
of chilihen, in the i;reat majority of eases, is snhstantially 
lixetl hefore they ever enter school. Brightness, then, 
appears to (lepiMid solely npon heredil\' aiul the proper 
completion oi those hrain chani;es which are rellected in 
i;ro\vth in hrain weight ; and these hrain, chan5;es, as 
Dr. Scammon's cm^ve shows, are ptaclically completed hy 
the ai;e o\ live. 

iMnMher relations helwcen hrain weight and intelli- 
gence come io lii^ht if we compare their i;rcnvth cnrves. 
C'm"vcs i.)i i;ro\vth in intelligence, slunvini;' the increase in 
intellij;ence with chronological ai;e, are «;ivcn in the pre- 
ceding' chapter.'' The i;ri)\\ th cnrves for intelligence and 
brain weii;ht ai^ree in slunvini;- a. mnch more raj)id rise in 
the tirst few years than in the later years. They ai;ree also 
in that In^th Inn'ome i>ractically le\el at ahont the a^e ol 
tifteen ov sixteen. The intellii;ence enrve, however, dif- 
fers from the hrain em-ve in that it ccMitinnes to rise 
considerably, loni;- after the brain cnrve has become prac- 
tically level. There are two pc^ssible explanations for 
this dilTerence. (^ne is that in reality the two cnrves 
shonld correspontl, bnt that they dit not bccanse i>nr 
methods of mcasnrini;- intellii;ence are so lari;ely inlhienced 
bv learnini;-. h^-om this point c^f view, it mis^ht be allei;etl 
that what we chart beyond the ai;e oi t"ive as a i;"rowth in 
intellit;ence is merely the elTect oi practice and experience 
in increasini;- the success achieved with an intelligence 
already tWed. at least in rei;ard io nine-tenihs o[ its Ihial 
valne. The other explanation is that the growth shown 
by the intellii;ence cnrve in the later years of childluHHl 

' See page 4^ 



BRAIN DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN 71 

has its brain counterpart in certain microscopic changes in 
the cortex which are not reflected in brain weight. Here, 
however, we would have to distinguish carefully l^etween 
the brain changes corresponding to learning, which con- 
tinue at a good rate throughout life, and those corre- 
sponding to growth of intelhgence, which certainly come 
very nearly to a stop at an age not much beyond sixteen. 
Between these two explanations it is not now possible to 
decide with certainty; but in all probability the latter is 
nearer the truth. 

We may now turn to the microscopic structure of the 
brain and consider the changes it shows as the child grows 
older and more intelligent. Studies in human embrycjlogy 
indicate that after the third or fourth month of f(jcital life, 
the numl>er of cells in the cerebral cortex does not increase. 
Their number, then, is determined well before birth. It 
follows that the growth changes shown by the microscope 
consist chiefly either in increase in the size, and change 
in shape and texture of the cell-lx)dies, or in the number 
and structure of the fibres. The cell-bodies at birth are 
denser and smaller and lack somewhat the profuseness of 
fibres characteristic of the adult cortex. They are also 
lacking in a certain pigment which they later acquire. 
Many of them, particularly the pyramidal cells, have 
not yet attained their characteristic shape. They appear 
embryonic and imperfectly formed. 

As the child grows older, the cortical nerve fibres 
acfjuire an enveloping sheath. The significance of this 
sheathing process, however, is not well understood. It 
is supposed to aid in the conduction of the nervous impulse 
along the fibres. The aquisition of sheaths on the part of 
the cortical fibres continues through middle life; accord- 
ingly it probably has little to do with the determination of 



^,2 BRAINS 

the individual's brightness or the fundamental powers of 
his mind. It appears rather to be correlated with the 
learning and knowledge that come with experience. 

Though very few systematic studies have been made 
of the changes in the cell structure of the cortex that 
occur with increase in age, it has been established that 
the most significant development is that which occurs in 
the pyramidal layer. The cortical layers lying below the 
pyramidal complete their development very early. In the 
six months' foetus they are as thick as at birth and very 
nearly as thick as in the adult. The pyramidal layers, 
on the other hand, are only one-half as thick in the six 
months' foetus as at birth and only one-third as thick as in 
the adult. It is in the thickness of the pyramidal layers 
that the cortex of man differs most from that of the lower 
animals; and it is here that we find the greatest difference 
between the cortex of the new-born infant and the adult. 

The fact that the pyramidal layers, which are so poorly 

developed in the new-born child and in the lower animals, 

are the ones which are the slowest to reach maturity in the 

human being, is regarded as evidence that these layers 

are the ones most closely associated with intelligence. 

The pyramidal layer, to quote from Watson, *' subserves 

the higher associations, the capacity for which is shown in 

the educability of the animal. It has therefore to do with 

all those activities which it is obvious that the animal has 

acquired or perfected by individual experience, and with 

all the possible modifications of behavior which may arise 

in relation to some novel situation, hence with what is 

usually described as indicating intelligent as apart from 

instinctive acts." ^' 

® *' The Mammalian Cerebral Cortex, with Special Reference to 
Its H^stolog}^ I. Order Insectivora." Archives of Neurology, vol. 
iii, 1907, p. no. 



BRAIN AND INTELLIGENCE IN ADULTS 73 

The Relation of the Breiin to Differences in Intelli- 
gence in Adults. — In confirmation of the results obtained 
by the study of animals and of the growing child are 
those obtained from the comparison of persons of differ- 
ent degrees of brightness. The brains of lower and higher 
animals, as we have seen, differ as regards certain features 
of their brains in the same manner as do younger and 
older children. Now if these features really are those 
which correspond to intelligence, then we should find a 
marked difference in these same features upon com- 
paring the brains of persons of widely different levels 
of intelligence. 

Brain weights of adults have been determined both 
for normal individuals and for men of great eminence. 
The normal male brain has a weight averaging something 
over 1360 grams. The extreme range, if we exclude 
idiots, is probably l:>etween 1000 and 2000 grams with 
the majority of cases falling" between 1300 and 1500 
grams. The weight of the female brain is about 10 per 
cent, less than that of the male. However, when the 
weight of the female brain is taken in proportion to physi- 
cal development, as shown by the weight of the body 
and the skeleton, it is greater than that of the male. Thus 
neither sex can claim preeminence from the point of vie\V 
of cerebral development. The relation of brain weight 
to physical development in the female is somewhat like 
that in an undersized male; for in either sex, the smaller 
the stature, the greater is the relative brain weight. 

A comparison of the brain weights of normal men 
with those of eminently able men is not uninteresting. 
A number of great men have realized the value to science 
of post-mortem examination of their brains and have 
therefore directed that their brains be made available for 



74 BRAINS 

study. The brain weights of over one hundred of these 
men have been determined. They range from about 1200 
to 2000 grams, thus overlapping the range of brain weights 
of ordinary men. On the average, however, they weigh 
about 1470 grams ; "^ that is, over one hundred grams more 
than the average of ordinary individuals. The brain- 
weights of some of the well-known men is given in the 
following list: 

Grams 

Cuvier, naturalist 1829 

Thackeray, novelist 1658 

Spurzheim, anatomist and phrenologist iS59 

Daniel Webster, statesman 1516 

Agassiz, naturalist 1495 

Grote, historian 1410 

Bertillon, anthropologist 1398 

Liebig, chemist 1352 

Gambetta, statesman 1294 

The brains of exceptionally intelligent men tend to 
average greater in weight than those of ordinary men, 
and those of the feeble-minded average less. It has been 
observed that a brain weight below about 1000 grams 
is seldom found with an intelligence above the grade of 
feeble-mindedness. The average brain-weight of adult 
idiots is probably not over 1200 grams. It should be 
emphasized, however, that a very large and heavy brain 
is not incompatible with idiocy. Its size may depend 
mainly upon an overgrowth of non-nervous tissue at the 
expense of the nerve cells, or it may be due, as in hydro- 
cephalus, to the accumulation of a large amount of fluid 
within the brain cavities. 

Although a rough correlation between brain-weight 

^ Spitzka, " A Study of the Brains of Six Eminent Scientists." 
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 1907. In this 
paper are gathered together all previous data on the brain-weights 
of eminent men. 



BRAIN AND INTELLIGENCE IN ADULTS 75 

and intelligence evidently exists, it is not close enough, 
in different individuals, to indicate that brain-weight in 
itself is the important factor. The reason for this is 
obvious, v^hen we remember that only two per cent, of 
the brain is composed of nervous tissue. The rest is 
made up of the cells of supporting tissue, of blood- 
vessels, and of fluid. The real anatomical basis of intelli- 
gence, without doubt, is found only in the strictly nervous 
tissue of the brain cortex. 

In the study of the relation between the microscopic 
structure of the cortex and intelligence, efforts have cen- 
tered on determining the difference between the normal 
brain and that of the feeble-minded person. One of the 
earliest investigations, as well as one of the most careful 
and elaborate, is that of Hammarberg. This Swedish 
scientist, who died at an early age and before his great 
work^ was published, made careful microscopic studies 
of the brains of normal and feeble-minded persons, con- 
cerning whose intelligence during life he had fairly 
accurate data. His drawings, some of which are repro- 
duced in figure No. 5, show only the cell bodies, and not 
the cell fibres. They clearly demonstrate the striking 
correspondence between mental deficiency and deficiency 
in the number and size of the cell bodies. 

The drawings represent for both normal and feeble- 
minded individuals the appearance of thin sections of the 
cortex as seen under the microscope. Sections la, Ila, 
and Ilia, are from three different localities in the cortex 
of a normal man, a merchant, who died from abdominal 
typhoid at the age of twenty-eight. Beside each of these 
sections are sections of the same localities from the brains 
of feeble-minded individuals. Section Ih shows the cor- 

'"Studien iiber Klinik und Pathologic der Idiotic," 1895. 



76 



BRAINS 



■i I 







1 


' t • ' 




>'., w 


l\\i 




■vi- 



', \- 



■Hi o 
lb 



Ic 




i 






ila 







a. ii 



lib 









!/' 



;■>» 



A 






Ilia 



lei* 



II 'I 



.1 / 



lllb 



Fig. 5. — Comparison of sections of the cortex of normal and feeble- 
minded persons, by drawings of the cell-bodies (after Hammarberg). 
la, Ila, Ilia, normal; lb, imbecile; Ic, lib, Illb, idiot. 



BRAIN AND INTELLIGENCE IN ADULTS 77 

tex of an imbecile, aged one year and ten months, and 
Ic that of a twenty-two-months-old idiot, in the same 
cortical region as that represented in section la. The sec- 
tion of the imbecile brain, Ih, according to Hammarberg, 
resembles that of a normal child during the first year of 
his life. That of the idiot, Ic, corresponds in development 
to tliat of a normal child between the sixth foetal month 
and the beginning of the first year of life. Sections Ilh 
and I lib are taken from the same localities of the brains 
of idiots as II a and Ilia. Section Ilh is from the same 
brain as Ih. Section Illh is from the cortex of an idiot 
who died at the age of fourteen. The greatest portion of 
this cortex, Hammarberg states, was not more developed 
than the normal cortex in the last part of embryonic life. 
It has been noted by Bolton and others that the cells 
of the feeble-minded cortex are undeveloped.^ Their 
small size and the great scarcity of their fibrous branches 
show this. In the pyramidal layer, the cells, though well 
outlined, are lacking in angles, and so appear globular 
and poorly formed. Such poorly formed cells may be 
found in all parts of the cerebral cortex, but they are most 
frequent in the anterior part of the frontal lobe. Similar 
cells were noted by Bevan Lewis in the cortex of the ape. 
Since the lack of development of the cells involves a 
scarcity of fibrous branches, or association fibres, it fol- 
lov/s that in the feeble-minded cortex there is a marked 
shrinkage in the bands of association fibres. Indeed, it 
is quite possible that the scarcity of fibres rather than the 
underdevelopment of the cell bodies is the fundamental 
cause of mental weakness. The underdevelopment of the 
fibres and of the cell body are, however, both parts of the 

'J. S. Bolton, "The Brain in Health and Disease/* 1914, pp. 
79-99- 



78 BRAINS 

general underdevelopment of the cells as a whole, and 
both are most obvious in the front part of the brain. 
According to Bolton it is only in this frontal region that 
the degree of underdevelopment varies strictly in accord- 
ance with the grade of feeble-mindedness. 

Bolton believes that differences in the intelligence of 
normal individuals are due to variation in the same cortical 
features as those by which feeble-mindedness is so clearly 
shown. ''As a final remark," he writes, " I would add 
that there is reason to believe that this physical basis of 
the cerebral functions . . . exhibits equally import- 
ant though less extensive variations in the cases of pre- 
sumably normal individuals ; and thus indicates the likeli- 
hood of a structural origin for individual differences in 
mental endowment." ^^ This opinion is unquestionably 
sound. It being established that an underdeveloped cortex 
is the cause of feeble-mindedness, it is safe, even in the 
absence of post-mortem examinations, to conclude that it 
is the degree of development of the cortex which deter- 
mines the degree of intelligence of any individual. 

Aside from the deficiencies revealed by the microscope 
in the brains of the feeble-minded, there often exist gross 
defects of structure of such a severe and extensive nature 
as to be obvious to the naked eye. Important structures 
may be entirely absent. There may exist great divergen- 
cies from the normal configuration of the cortical folds 
or convolutions and the fissures between them. The con- 
volutions are likely to be fewer in number and less com- 
plex, so that the brain presents a simpler and smoother 
appearance. Often the cortex is reduced in thickness. 
Great bands of association fibres running beneath the 
cortex may be entirely absent. I once sectioned an idiot's 



" Op. at., p. 99. 



BRAINS AND INTELLIGENCE IN ADULTS 79 

brain in which the great band of association fibres con- 
necting the two cerebral hemispheres was almost entirely 
absent. The cortex itself was very much thinner than 
in the normal brain. In the small headed cases, called 
microcephalic, such as are sometimes exhibited in '' side- 
shows " as the '' last of the Aztecs," the brain cortex is 
greatly reduced in area. These specimens, as a rule, show 
a narrow, rapidly receding forehead which corresponds 
to the underdevelopment of the temporal and frontal lobes. 
In the back part of their brains, however, the insufficiency 
in the amount of cerebral cortex is still more noticeable. 
f^ Although these gross malformations of the brain are 
frequently associated with the more serious degrees of 
mental deficiency, they are not so important as the defects 
that can be seen only by the aid of the microscope, and 
they should not be regarded as the essential basis of 
imperfect mental development. There are many instances 
on record in which just such gross malformations have 
existed in individuals whose mental condition was appar- 
ently normal.^ ^ It is now established beyond all doubt 
that the really essential basis of defective mentality is 
defective development of the cerebral neurones. " What- 
ever may be the relation of mind to brain," writes Tred- 
gold, " it is now fully recognized that the manifestation 
of mental activity is indissolubly connected with the cells 
of the cerebral cortex. Mind develops pari passu with 
their growth, and fails with their decay. Dementia is 
coincident with their degeneration and death, and 
amentia (feeble-mindedness) is associated with their 
incomplete development." ^^ 

Summing up, then, the salient points concerning the 

" See Tredgold, " Mental Deficiency," 2d ed., p. 74. 
"0^«7.,p.73. 



8o BRAINS 

relationship between brain development and intelligence, 
through the evolution of the lower animals and the growth 
of the human being, we find Nature utilizing throughout 
the same fundamental principles. Thus, in all strata 
of development, the correspondence depends to some 
extent upon brain-weight, but mainly upon the complexity 
of structure displayed by the cerebral cortex. In animals 
and people, advancement in intelligence is accompanied 
by increased number and improved size and structure of 
the pyramidal cells, with richness of connecting fibres. 
The chief fact to be carried from this part of the discus- 
sion to the perusal of succeeding chapters, is that the men- 
tality of a child is based, primarily, upon the development 
of his cerebral neurones. 



CHAPTER V 

PHYSICAL DEFECTS 

The Relation of Physical Defects to Intelligence. — 
I have discussed the relation of intelligence to brain 
development somewhat in detail because it is funda- 
mental. But the development of the brain does not occur 
independently of the rest of the physical being. The 
brain, like all parts of the body, is dependent for its 
nutrition upon the food we eat and the air we breathe, and 
so is dependent upon the processes of digestion and of 
respiration. And for the nervous currents which stimu- 
late it to action, the brain is dependent upon the sense 
organs and the nerves which connect it with them. In 
turn, the brain exerts a far-reaching control over the body. 
It controls the movement of the muscles in the execution 
of acts, and it exerts a powerful influence over many of the 
internal bodily processes, such as those of secretion, diges- 
tion, circulation and respiration. Not only is the brain 
connected with the rest of the body through this mutual 
dependence of functions, but also through the fact of a 
common origin. All parts of the body develop from the 
same germ cells. It is therefore not surprising to find 
that many bodily defects are very frequent in mentally 
retarded children, and that, on the other hand, a well- 
developed body is something of an index of intelligence 
as well as an aid to its development. 

The correlation between intelligence and physical 
defects is not so close, however, as many people have 
6 81 



82 PHYSICAL DEFECTS 

supposed. Ayres conducted an investigation in New York 
City to determine the relation between the degree of 
mental development as shown by school attainments and 
such defects as adenoids, enlarged tonsils and glands, 
defective teeth, poor vision, and poor hearing.^ The 
children were divided into two groups, normal and 
retarded. Those who were in the grade they should 
have been in, had they entered school at the age of six 
or seven and progressed at the rate of one grade per year, 
were called normal, and those who were behind their grade 
were called retarded. The comparison was thus between 
the older children in a grade, the retarded ones, and their 
younger classmates, the nonnal, ones. The outcome was 
that the percentage having physical defects Avas larger 
for the normal children than for those who were retarded ! 

In order to find an explanation of this unexpected 
result. Ayres retabulated his data, classifying all the chil- 
dren by their ages instead of by their school grade. It 
thereupon appeared that there exists a steady decrease 
from the age of six up to the age of fifteen in the per- 
centage of children having each sort of defect, with the 
exception of bad vision. This explains the presence 
of more physical defects among the normal children 
than among the retarded. The nomial children were 
younger than the retarded children of the same grade 
•with whom they were compared, and consequently 
showed more defects. 

Ayres, still using the same data, proceeded to make 
a comparison, not between normal and retarded children 
in the same grade, but, for children of each age, be- 
tween those of higher and lower grades, thus eliminat- 
ing the influence of age upon the comparison. Children 

* Ayres, "Laggards in Our Schools," 1909, pp. 1 17-132. 



PHYSICAL DEFECTS AND INTELLIGENCE 83 

of the same age were divided into superior, normal and 
dull, aeeording to whether they were advanced, average, 
or retarded in their school grade. 

It then appeared that the percentage having physical 
defects was larger for the dull children than for the 
superior. The difference in the percentages of physically 
defective children in the three classes — dull, normal and 
sui)crior — was slight, but the difference in the degree of 
defectiveness was found to be rather marked, the dull 
child showing on the average considerably more defects 
than the superior one. Ayre's investigation shows, then, 
that in general dull children are more likely to have physi- 
cal defects than are superior ones, and that the defects 
in the dull child tend to be more numerous and more 
serious than those in the superior child; but it also 
brings out the fact that the difference between dull and 
superior children, so far as physical defects are concerned, 
is less than that between younger and older children. 

Now, although the degree of correspondence between 
intelligence and freedom from physical defects is slight, 
physical defects exert a marked influence upon the activ- 
ity of intelligence. A child with physical defects may 
l)e either superior or dull; but, whichever he is,, the 
removal of his physical defects will help him mentally. 
Physical defects, of little importance as causes of poor 
intelligence, and, only in small part due to the same fac- 
tors as dullness, nevertheless constitute a severe handicap 
to efficient mental activity, causing the child to do his 
mental labor under difficulties. They affect intelligence 
somewhat as hamperin.cf clothing does the efficient exercise 
of physical strength. There mip:ht be only a slight corre- 
lation with the weight or fit of a child's shoes and the 
strength of his legs; yet a child with sufficiently heavy 



84 PHYSICAL DEFECTS 

and misfitting shoes would certainly be handicapped in a 
foot-race. 

The proper treatment of physical defects is an import- 
ant educational measure, a measure that enables the child 
to make the best use of his abilities. Removal of a child's 
adenoids, or the provision of proper eye-glasses, may 
be of greater importance to his mental achievements than 
the difference between the best and worst of school teach- 
ing. I may say that the presence of remedial physical 
defects in an apparently dull child is an almost hopeful 
sign; it allows his parents to believe that his dullness is 
only apparent — that his intelligence is normal but handi- 
capped. There are many striking cases on record of 
improvement in a child's school work as the result of the 
removal of adenoids or tonsils, or the fitting of glasses, 
followed by special, individual teaching.^ 

The account here given of sensory and other defects 
is limited to the minimum that is compatible with a broad 
understanding of the educational needs of children. I 
shall point out merely how the presence of the commoner 
defects, particularly those of vision and hearing, may be 
ascertained and indicate some of the chief ^consequences. 

Defective Vision. — Visual acuity, or the ability to see, 
is ordinarily tested by having the child read letters at 
a distance. These letters are printed in nine lines on a 
chart, the letters of each line being smaller than those of 
the line above it. Such a chart is commonly known as a 
Snellen test card, and may be procured from any oculist. 
Usually the top line contains just one letter, which is of a 
size ordinarily distinguishable at a distance of 200 feet. 

^See Witmer, "The Treatment and Cure of a Case of Mental 
and Moral Deficiency," Psychological Clinic, vol. ii, 1908, p. 153; and 
Smith, " Sixty-two Days* Training of a Backward Boy," Psychologi- 
cal Clinic, vol. ii, pp. 5, 29 and 134. 



DEFECTIVE VISION 85 

The next line of letters is large enough so that it may 
normally be read at 100 feet, the next at 70 feet, and so 
on down. The line next to the bottom is usually one that 
should be read at 20 feet, and the bottom line one that can 
be read only at 12 feet. The distance at which each line 
ought to be read is printed beside it on the test card. 

To test a child's vision, this card is hung on the wall 
in a good light a distance of 20 feet in front of the child. 
The child reads the letters as the teacher points them 
out, beginning at the top line and going down to a line 
where he misses more than one letter. The result of the 
test is recorded as a fraction, of which the numerator is 
the distance at which the child is standing from the chart 
and the denominator the distance at which the smallest 
line he can read should be legible, as indicated by the 
distance printed beside it. Thus, if a child, standing at 
the standard distance of 20 feet from the chart, can read 
all the letters of the 20-feet line, or all but one of them, 
with his right eye, but can read only those of the 40-feet 
line with his left, the vision of his right eye is l^, or 
normal, while that of his left eye is |J, or one-half. Each 
eye must be tested separately, and the eye not being 
tested kept open, but covered by a card held close in 
front of it. 

Visual acuity oi }i to }^ is not regarded as particu- 
larly bad. The percentage of children having various 
degrees of defective vision varies greatly from class to 
class. On the average, results something like the follow- 
ing may be expected : A visual acuity in one or both eyes 
of ys or worse in 6 or 8 per cent. ; of >^ or worse, in 10 
to 15 per cent. ; of ^ or worse, in 15 to 35 per cent. 

The test for visual acuity detects all those who have 
defective vision at the distance of twenty feet; but it 



86 PHYSICAL DEFECTS 

misses many whose vision is very poor at the ordinary 
reading distance. It cannot be counted upon to detect 
those who are suffering from one of the commonest as 
well as most serious visual defects, namely, far-sighted- 
ness. The reason is not hard to understand. The far- 
sighted person sees as well at a distance as the possessor 
of nomial vision; he is merely unable to see clearly 
objects which are close at hand. At a distance as great 
as twenty feet, the far-sighted person may see as easily as 
anybcxly else, and if he cannot see as easily, he can yet 
manage to see as well, simply by straining his eyes a little. 
He may even succeed in reading at the ordinary distance — 
but only by straining his eyes to a very excessive and injur- 
ious degree. Such a person suffers greatly in using his 
eyes for reading, for they must work constantly under 
an enormous strain. Clearly, far-sightedness is more 
serious than near-sightedness. The near-sighted pupil 
cannot read well at a distance of twenty feet but he may 
not be bothered at all in near w^ork; whereas the far- 
sighted pupil, who passes the reading test at tw^enty feet, 
with little or no eye-strain, may yet be utterly unable to 
read print close at hand. When we consider that in. school 
children far-sightedness is several times as common as 
near-sightedness, it is obvious that the Snellen chart test 
has to be supplemented by one for far-sightedness. 

The simplest way of especially testing far-sightedness 
is to have the child read through a weak convex lens or 
magnifying glass, or through a pair of spectacles with two 
diopter lenses,^ such as may be had from any spectacle 
dealer. If these convex lenses do not make his vision 
worse, it is likely that the child is far-sighted. 

' Sec Dnimmond, "An Tntroduction to School Hygiene," p. 135. 
A two diopter lens is one of low power, whose focal length is one- 
half meter. 



DEFECTIVE VISION 87 

Even the lens test may fail, if, from habit, the far- 
sighted child refuses to relax his eyes. It is necessary, 
therefore, to have the child examined by a specialist when- 
ever there is any reason to suspect that his vision is defec- 
tive, even though he passes the tests. In this connection, 
the teacher should be alert to notice the symptoms of eye- 
strain in her pupils. These symptoms consist in an aching 
or tiring of the eyes with prolonged reading, smarting or 
itching, and a blurring or running together of the letters. 
Frequent headaches are in themselves a sufficient symptom. 
According to Cornell,^ " the only considerable cause of 
habitual headache in children is eye-strain." 

It is not sufficient that children suffering from defec- 
tive vision receive proper examination and treatment by 
an oculist. When glasses are prescribed, the teacher 
must see to it that they are worn. The child should be 
impressed by the notion of their value. Spectacles are a 
great invention, due, it is said, to Sal vino d'Armati of 
Florence, who died in 13 17. At one time, the cost of a 
pair of glasses, was equal to 50 to 100 dollars, and even if 
they cost that to-day they would be cheap at the price — 
as one may perceive by considering the earning ability of 
those men who, but for their glasses, would hardly be 
self-supporting. Besides making sure that children wear 
their glasses, the teacher should guard against glasses that 
are not properly fitted. She can do this by watching care- 
fully for symptoms of eye-strain. Vision may change. 
There is a tendency for far-sightedness to diminish and 
for near-sightedness to increase as children grow older; 
so that it is necessary from time to time to have the eyes 
examined, even though they may be already fitted with 

" " Health and Medical Inspection of School Children," 1912, 
p. 221. 



88 PHYSICAL DEFECTS 

glasses. Various eye defects, frequently associated with 
defective vision, should not go unobserved. Styes, squints 
and swollen or reddened eyelids are readily noted ; but in 
addition the teacher should watch for cliildren who have a 
tense facial expression and a tendency to screw up their 
eyes when looking at the blackboard, who hold their books 
close to their eyes, or stoop down close to their work, or 
who show excessive blinking and over-sensitivity to light. 
Defective Hearing. — Almost as important as defects 
of vision are those of hearing. They affect in the neigh- 
borhood of five per cent, of all children, and are often 
attended with serious results. Besides his direct loss, 
a child with defective hearing may suffer a number of 
indirect bad consequences. Speech is likely to be peculiar, 
as the mutism that accompanies total deafness indicates. 
The continual leaning forward to hear may cause stoop 
shoulders and flat chest, and these, in turn, increase a liabil- 
ity to tuberculosis. Inattention may become pronounced, 
merely because of the great effort required to hear, and 
may lead to an undeserved reputation for dullness. Par- 
tial isolation from normal play and social intercourse 
with other children leads to the acquisition of a peculiar 
temperament, shown in a tendency towards self -analysis 
and suspiciousness of others. Numerous statistics prove 
that school work is seriously handicapped by deafness. 
While children with defective hearing are by no means 
always retarded, a much larger percentage of such chil- 
dren is found among those who are retarded than among 
those who are advanced. To some extent this may be 
accounted for by the association of deafness with other 
defects, such as adenoids and even with dullness itself. 
It is for the most part, however, due directly to the obvious 
handicap of defective hearing. 



DEFECTIVE HEARING 89 

Hearing ability may be l^est examined by what is 
known as the whisper test. As conducted by Kirkpatrick, 
a number of children may be tested at the same time. He 
describes his procedure substantially as follows : ^ The 
children take seats in three rows, tliree or four or even 
five children in a row. They are supplied with pencil 
and paper and asked to keep their eyes to the front. The 
teacher stands to the right, opposite the middle pupil, and 
pronounces in a low, distinct whisper a series of numbers 
which they are asked to write after her, one at a time, 
as in a dictation exercise. After four or five numbers 
have been given, the children change seats; those in the 
row nearest the teacher take the seats of those in the 
farthest row ; those in the farthest row move to the mid- 
dle; and those in the middle move to the nearest row. 
Then the teacher whispers another series of numbers. 
The moving is repeated, and the teacher whispers a third 
series. This completes the test for the right ear — all the 
children having been tested at three distances, near, far 
and medium. The left ear is tested in a similar way, the 
teacher standing to the children's left. She collects the 
papers and grades them by taking the total number of 
digits written correctly. The totals for the right ear 
and left ear are averaged for the class. The hearing 
ability of each ear for each child is then recorded in the 
form of a fraction, the denominator of which is the aver- 
age for the class and the numerator the number of digits 
correctly written by the individual child. The record 
shows the acuteness of hearing of each child in comparison 
with that of his classmates. With this record before her 
it should not be hard for the teacher to tell which children 
require the attention of an ear specialist. 

^Psychological CUnic, 1909, pp. 96, 97. 



90 PHYSICAL DEFECTS 

Defects of hearing must, imperatively, be recognized 
early in life. Long-standing cases are likely to be rather 
obstinate. Small children almost never complain on their 
own initiative of inability to hear, and older children may 
frequently conceal their infirmity on account of timidity. 
Such symptoms as mouth-breathing and earache, apparent 
stupidity, or even slowness or hesitation in executing 
commands, should be regarded as sufficient to necessitate 
an examination by the physician. A discliarging ear 
should be given immediate attention. If chronic, it indi- 
cates an inflammation of the middle ear, within the skull, 
which may result in very serious consequences. 

Non-sensory Defects. — Among the most frequent of 
the non-sensory physical defects met with in school chil- 
dren are the following: Defective glands; enlarged ton- 
sils; adenoids, consisting of little swellings which grow 
in the passageway connecting the nose with the throat and 
block it up; nasal catarrh and nasal obstructions of one 
sort or another; stuttering and lisping; malnutrition; 
defective teeth, particularly frequent in the younger chil- 
dren; nervous disorders; diseases of the heart, lungs, and 
skin; and diseases or deformities of the skeleton. Many 
of these troubles can be recognized only by the physician. 
Note, however, that a number of them are located in the 
neighlx^rhood of the mouth and throat. For this reason, 
a teacher should be familiar with the normal appearance 
of this region. " Look into the children's mouths " is 
good pedagogy aiid sound psychology. It stands for the 
principle of careful individual observation of children, a 
principle which one must follow if he is to guide cliildren 
successfully in their mental development. 

The removal of adenoids and of tonsils is not infre- 
quently accompanied by a marked improvement in general^ 



STIGMATA OF DEGENERACY 91 

health and a decrease in susceptibility to colds and sore 
throat. Marked improvement in mental ability may also 
result. A num.l)er of studies indicate that children who 
are retarded in school may do better work after the 
removal of these sources of infection. In fact, the 
majority of all cases of sudden improvement in mentality 
are those in which adenoids or tonsils have been removed. 
Removal of adenoids may lead to a much improved facial 
expression, by permitting- the child to breathe through his 
nose instead of a wide-open mouth. It may also result in 
better attention by removing the distraction caused by 
mouth-breathing. When the adenoids have been respon- 
sible, as they sometimes are, for catarrh in the ear, their 
removal may result in improvement in hearing. However, 
in numerous cases, no mental improvement at all follows. 
In an investigation of the effects brought about by removal 
of adenoids in a group of children retarded in their school 
work, Cornell found that according to the opinion of the 
teachers a considerable number were not benefited men- 
tally, and that the entire group received 52 failures to 
32 promotions during the year after the operation.^ 

Stigmata of Degeneracy. — Before leaving the subject 
of physical defects, I must mention the so-called " stig- 
mata of degeneracy." These have been widely discussed 
and have attracted a great deal of notoriety as signs of 
criminality, insanity, and feeble-mindedness. Certain 
defects have been given this name on the theory that they 
originate in defects in the germ cells from which the 
individual develops. Needless to say, it is often extremely 
difficult to decide whether a physical defect owes its 
origin to defective germ plasm or not; and it is conse- 

*" Health and Medical Inspection of School Children," 1912, 
pp. 276-278. 



9'^ PHYSICAL DEFECTS 

i[iiont!y not siirprisiiii; that there exists i;Teat cUsai^ree- 
inent between anthiM'ities as to what slu)uKl be ennnierated 
as stii;niata oi tlei;eneraey. Ahnc>st every tleviation from 
the normal has been inehuled by some writer or other; and 
lliere is no hst that diH\s not inchule defects that may 
not be due to other factors than defective i^erm phism. 
riie followini;^ hst is perhaps fairly representative: 

1. I'ndersized cm* misshaped liead. 

2. Oefeetive heii;ht and weii;ht. 

^^ Misshaped ears: IVenharities of form and size of 
the external ear and its varions parts. 

4. IX^formities connected with the eyes : Crossed eyes; 
nystai;nms. a rapid movement of the eyes from side to 
side, especially noticeable when the child tries to fixate an 
object lyini;" in a new direction; small, c^blicpie (^jHMiini;- 
between the eyelids, etc. 

5. Nose, lips and palate: Tecnliarities oi size and 
l\^rm; slavering;-: protnulini^- jaw; small and recedini;* 
jaw ; adenoids. 

(\ Teeth : Irrci^iilarities oi position, nnmber. form and 
si.-e; delay in a[>pearance cU" either temporarv or jvrma- 
nent teeth. 

7. Oefective circnlation and respiration. 

8. Oe feels oi the alimentary or digestive svstcni. 

o. Hair: Its absence from customary places or its 
presence in nnnsnal places. 

10. Oefective facial expression. 

Now any of the above defects may appear in persons 
who are otherwise perfectly normal. Nevertheless, they 
are far more numerous in persiMis of a degenerate type, 
especially the feeble-minded. In an examination of two 
hundred morons. Lapage found stig^nata in all but nine- 



STIGMATA OF DEGENERACY 93 

teen, and, not uncommonly, three or more stigmata in the 
same individual. They are more numerous in imbeciles 
and idiots, than in morons. Clouston found deformed 
palates in nineteen per cent, of the ordinary population, 
but in sixty-one per cent, of idiots. It is now fairly well 
established that there exists a rough correlation l^tween 
the number, severity and extensiveness of stigmata and 
innate defectiveness of the central nervous system.*^ One 
or even two of these stigmata may be of no particular 
importance; but if they are more numerous, they 
are significant. 

By themselves, stigmata of degeneracy should never 
be taken as evidence of dullness or feeble-mindedness. 
They are quite too unreliable. They have significance 
only in those cases in which, as the result of mental tests 
or other observations, mental subnormality is already 
known to exist. In these cases, stigmata have some signifi- 
cance as regards the cause of the mental subnormality. 
The stigmata, while never conclusive, are a sign of defec- 
tiveness in the germ cells from which the child has devel- 
oped. When, then, the child is already known to be 
retarded, the presence of stigmata may be regarded as 
evidence that his retardation is inborn, that it is dullness 
rather than mere backwardness, that it is not due to tem- 
porary causes which may be either easily remedied or out- 
grown, but that on the contrary it is an ingrained, 
permanent feature of his constitution. 

All in all, soundness of body is correlated with sound- 
ness of mind. With regard to any other part of the body 
than the central nervous system, however, the correlation 
is so slight that all our elaborate measurements scarcely 

'Bosbauer, Miklas unci Schiner, " Handbuch der Schwachsin- 
nigenfiirsorge," 1909, p. 30. 



94 PHYSICAL DEFECTS 

do more than establish its existence. In the case of the 
central nervous system, there is abundant evidence of a 
very high correlation, particularly with certain features 
of the cerebral cortex. Here, owing to the diflficulty of 
access, we are still greatly in need of more precise data. 
Enough is known, however, so that we may be confident 
that brightness is much more highly correlated with the 
number and development of the cortical cells than with 
any other bodily features. The correlation is at least so 
high, that, in the absence of any information concerning 
a child except that he is superior or dull, we may assume 
as the most probable cause of his mental condition the 
state of his cerebral cortex. 

Medical Inspection and Its Relation to the Teacher. — • 
In concluding this chapter on physical defects, I shall add 
a few comments on medical inspection and its relation to 
the teacher. To some people, who greatly exaggerated the 
connection between physical defects and mentality, the 
results of medical inspection have been a disappointment. 
They were disappointed to observe that children still con- 
tinued as usual to fail in school work in large numbers. 
To those who better understood the true relationship 
between mind and body, medical inspection appeared not 
only successful but indispensable. In the United States, 
medical inspection has had to fight against considerable 
prejudice. Its desirability, however, is beyond debate ; the 
only problem, now, is how to make it more efficient. In 
the solution of this problem, a great deal depends upon 
the cooperation of the teacher. 

Medical inspection is now nearly a century old. It 
originated in France, where, in 1837, a royal ordinance 
made it the special duty of the female supervisors of 
kindergartens to watch over the health of the children. 



MEDICAL INSPECTION 95 

It is now well-nigh universal. Medical inspection has 
been adopted by all the nations of Europe as well as in 
many other parts of the world. The Argentine Republic 
is said to have one of the most thorough systems of medi- 
cal inspection in existence ; and Japan has a system which 
embraces the entire empire, including the most remote 
rural districts.^ In the United States, since the inception 
of the movement in Boston in 1894, its expansion has 
been very rapid. 

Medical inspection has a twofold aim : First, the detec- 
tion of communicable diseases, which has as its main object 
the protection of the community; and, second, physical 
examination, which aims to discover defects and dis- 
eases, and to note the general physical condition of chil- 
dren. In both these aims the cooperation of the teacher 
is invaluable. The teacher should be familiar with the 
symptoms of infectious diseases,^ and constantly on the 
watch for them. In the physical examination, also, the 
teacher may cooperate by testing vision and hearing and 
by looking out for other physical defects. In some states, 
teachers are required by law to make tests of the vision 
and hearing of their pupils. Even in cities which have an 
adequate system of medical inspection, it is desirable, 
even though not required, that the teachers should be able 
to make such tests. The object, of course, is not to arrive 
at a diagnosis of causes, but merely to determine whether 
vision or hearing is defective, so that a thorough, examina- 
tion and proper treatment may be given by a specialist 
and so that the teacher herself may arrange for proper 
seating and methods of instruction. 

* See Gulick and Ayres, " Medical Inspection of Schools," 1908, 
pp. 18-26. 

• A convenient description of these is given by Lapage, '* Feeble- 
Mindedness in Children of School Age," 191 1, pp. 16&-178. 



96 PHYSICAL DEFECTS 

The greatest of all the teacher's responsibilities, how- 
ever, in connection with the physical welfare of her pupils, 
is in the follow-up work that is necessary if medical inspec- 
tion is to be made successful. Parental indifference and 
neglect is, at present, the greatest obstacle to the success 
of medical inspection. In a great many cases it is very 
diflicult, if not impossible, to persuade parents to act upon 
the notification received from the medical examiner. The 
medical examiner himself can not remedy the defects he 
finds. His duty ends when he has notified the child's 
parents of the existence of defects; he is not permitted 
to correct them. However unsatisfactory this state of 
affairs may be, it will probably continue for a long time 
to come. In the meantime, follow-up work is clearly 
necessary, unless a large part of the medical inspector's 
labor is to be wasted. 

Sometimes it is made the special duty of the school 
mu'se to see to it that proper measures are taken for the 
correction or treatment of physical defects ; but the respon- 
sibility of the teacher is never entirely removed. If the 
school is fortunate enough to possess an efficient school 
nurse, it may never be necessary for the teacher to deal 
directly with the child's parents. All that may be required 
of her is strict insistence against neglect. In less fortunate 
circumstances, the teacher must take more active measures. 
The teacher, by virtue of her position of direct authority 
over the education of children entrusted to her care, must 
hold herself responsible for the proper treatment of every 
remedial physical defect present in her pupils. The correc- 
tion of physical defects is as nuich an educational measure 
as the correction of illiteracy. The teacher nuist accept 
the responsibility for both, whether or not the administra- 
tive authorities ask her to do so. 



CHAPTER VI 

ANATOMICAL AGE 

The Various Child Ages. — According to psychology, 
every child has a number of different ages, each of which 
represents an appraisement of some one of the factors 
comprising his complex existence. The four most import- 
ant are the chronological, mental, pedagogical and 
physiological, or anatomical, ages. 

Each of these ages has different implications. The 
chronological tells only how long the child has lived. The 
mental age states his amount of intelligence. The peda- 
gogical age gives his school grade. It is merely a sub- 
division of what may be termed his acquisitional age, the 
age which tells how much he has acquired in the way of 
information and serviceable habits. His physiological 
age records the extent to which his bodily functions have 
developed. It is distinguishable from anatomical age, 
which expresses the stage of growth of the bodily struc- 
tures, but physiological and anatomical age are so closely 
related that for educational purposes they may be united 
under the head of anatomical age. 

Each of these ages is to a large extent independent of 
the others. We have already seen that a child's mental age 
may be far beyond or behind his chronological age. Like- 
wise, pedagogical age and anatomical age may differ 
widely from chronological age. Pedagogical age, which 
refers to a child's school grade, might be supposed insepa- 
rable from mental age, but, unfortunately, it does not 
always prove to be so. The grade a child attains in school 
7 97 



98 ANATOMICAL AGE 

depends upon his age at entering, upon the flexibiUty of 
the grading system to which he is subjected and other 
factors, as well as upon his intelligence. Pedagogical 
age and mental age not only differ from each other, but 
are both quite distinct from anatomical age. This dis- 
tinction is most striking in idiots and imbeciles, who may 
be fairly well developed physically and yet possess prac- 
tically nothing of intelligence or information. 

While the various ages are distinct and to a certain 
extent independent, their true significance is clear only 
when they are considered in relation to each other. To 
know a child's mental age, for example, is of compara- 
tively little value, unless his chronological age is also 
known. If, however, we know the relation of the former 
to the latter, we can form some idea of the child's bright- 
ness, to some extent can predict his future, and begin 
to plan his education with some measure of wisdom. Thus 
considered in relation to the other ages of the child, both 
the anatomical and pedagogical age contribute immensely 
to the understanding of the child's nature — his needs and 
his potentialities. 

Anatomical Age. — The measurement of any of these 
ages, except the chronological, requires that norms or 
standards be first established, because the measurement 
is made by applying a scale showing the attainments of 
normal children at each of the chronological ages. Thus, 
as heretofore stated, a child has the mental age ten if he 
manifests the amount of intelligence of an average ten- 
year-old child ; so that mental age may be defined as that 
degree of intelligence shown by an average child of the 
corresponding chronological age. Anatomical age is 
defined and measured in a similar manner. It is an age 
which represents the degree of physical development 



ANATOMICAL AGE 99 

attained by the average child of the corresponding chrono- 
logical age. If a child has not attained the anatomical 
development of normal children of his own chronological 
age, he is anatomically retarded; if he has attained a 
stage reached on the average only by children older than 
himself, he is anatomically advanced. 

By the stage of a child's physical development is 
meant neither his health, nor his strength, nor even his 
size, but simply the point at v^hich he has arrived in that 
series of changes by which the body of a child is trans- 
formed into that of an adult. It is well known that the 
development of the body is marked by numerous definite 
changes in the structure of its parts, and that in all per- 
sons a certain condition is finally reached which marks the 
end of these changes. For example, everyone acquires 
a certain number of teeth and no more. We know that 
a child who has only one or two of his permanent teeth 
has a larger number of stages still to traverse than has the 
child who has already four or five of his permanent teeth, 
and a much smaller number of stages yet before him 
than has the child who has not acquired any permanent 
teeth. When all the teeth have appeared, anatomical 
development with respect to teeth is complete, no matter 
whether the teeth are good or bad, and no matter whether 
the child's body is large or small, strong or weak. It is 
clear that stages of this sort are quite different from such 
things as strength or height. When a boy has two per- 
manent teeth, we know how many more he will eventually 
possess ; whereas when he has reached four feet in height, 
we do not know how much more he is to grow. We know 
the height of the average man, but we do not know the 
height any particular boy will attain when he becomes a 
man. Perhaps we can estimate what his final height will 



loo ANATOMICAL AGE 

be, but his actual height does not directly represent a 
definite stage in a known series of developmental 
changes, leading to a known final stage, as does the 
number of teeth. 

Both mental and anatomical ages measure something 
in the child by comparison with the attainments of normal 
children ; but they differ in a very important respect, apart 
from the fact that one measures something mental and the 
other something physical. This difference has often been 
overlooked with the result that great confusion has existed 
concerning the use to be made of the knowledge of a 
child's anatomical age. The word age has a quite different 
meaning in the two cases. In mental age, the term indi- 
cates an amount, in anatomical age, a proportion. Mental 
age tells us how much intelligence the child has ; it does not 
tell us what proportion of his final intelligence he already 
possesses. Anatomical age, on the other hand, does not 
indicate the amount of physical development, but merely 
the proportion of the final development reached at a given 
period. Of course it does not give this proportion directly 
in the form of a fraction; but it does give directly the 
stage reached in a known series of vStages. We know what 
stages have gone before and what remain to be traversed. 

The Indices of Anatomical Age. — To the question, 
then, what is the best way to determine a child's anatomical 
age, different answers have been given. In the main, 
reliance has been placed on one or the other of three 
indices. Dr. Bean emphasizes the value of the time when 
the permanent teeth appear as a measure of anatomical 
age.^ Dr. Crampton, who, while assistant director of 

*"The Eruption of the Teeth as a Physiological Standard lor 
Testing Development" Pedagogical Seminary, vol. xxi, 1914, pp. 
596-614. 



THE ERUPTION OF TEETH loi 

physical training in the pubhc schools of New York 
City, was one of the first to call attention to the impor- 
tance of a knowledge of anatomical age, uses the onset 
of puberty as a sign.^ Dr. Rotch and others have argued 
that the most reliable index of anatomical age is the 
degree of development of the skeleton.^ Dr. Rotch and 
Dr. Pryor ^ have established the fact that the degree of 
skeletal development may be used with a high degree of 
accuracy at all ages from birth to maturity, as an index 
of anatomical age. All three of these indices show sub- 
stantial interagreement. 

The Eruption of Teeth. — ^The most convenient means 
of determining anatomical age is afforded by the eruption 
of the teeth. The teeth can be counted and identified by 
almost anyone, after a little experience, and they are, 
obviously, either definitely absent or present; conse- 
quently, their use as measures of anatomical age does 
not call for much interpretative ability! Some students 
of anatomical age regard dentition as the best single indi- 
cator, particularly at the earlier school ages.^ 

From the age of entering school until the age of 
twelve, a child's anatomical age can be fixed within quite 
narrow limits solely by inspection of his teeth. The first 
permanent teeth are the lower molars. These normally 

' " Anatomical or Physiological Age Versus Chronological Age," 
Pedagogical Seminary, vol. xv, 1908, pp. 230-237 ; and " Physiological 
Age," American Physical Education Review, vol. xiii, 1908, pp. 141- 
154, 214-227, 268-283 and 345-358. 

^ " Rontgen-ray Methods Applied to the Grading of Early Life. 
American Physical Education Review, vol. xv, 1910, pp. 396-420. 

* Bulletins of the State College of Kentucky : 1905, " Develop- 
ment of the Bones of the Hand," pp. 30 : 1906, " Ossification of the 
Epiphyses of the Hand," pp. 35 ; 1908. " The Chronology and Order 
of Ossification of the Bones of the Human Carpus, pp. 24. 

*See Beik, "Physiological Age and School Entrance." Peda- 
gogical Seminary, vol. xx, 1913, p. 302. 



I02 



ANATOMICAL AGE 



apprar at the ai;c of six. They appear just behind the 
rearmost temporary teeth, and thus, eountiug from the 
middle hue of the front of tlie mouth, occupy the sixth 
place. Hieir position in the mouth as well as that of the 
other teeth is shown in the accompanying- hgiu-e, No. 6. 




Fui. 6.— The ixTinaiiont tooth (after Tostut and Jacob, "Traits 
d'anatoinio txMH\j;rapluquo," vol. i, 190*), p. 206). 1,1, central incisors; 
2, 2, lateral incisors; 3, 3, canines; 4, 4, iirst premolars; 5, 5, second pre- 
molars; 6, 6, first molars; 7, 7, second molars; 8, 8, third molars 
(wisdom 1 colli). 

About six months after the fu-st molars come the two 
lower central incisors. The remaining teeth appear 
in reg-ular order from the front Ixickwards, except that 
the first premolars may erupt Ix^fore the lower canines, 
and both the first and second premolars before tlie 
upper canines. 



THE ERUPTION OF TEETH 



103 



riic normal aj^c of eruption for any tooth varies. 
I'art of this variation is (hie to race and sex (hfferences. 
I lie teeth of French children mature more ra|)i(lly, and 
those of German children less rapidly than those of 
y\m,erican children." (Jirls acciuire thcii^ teeth earlier 
than do boys. But even in individuals of the same race 
and sex, there is a considerable variation in the a^e of 
eruption of the teeth, and on this account, it is not alto- 
j^cther easy to construct a normal scale. I lowever, sufli- 
ciently extensive investij^^ations have been made that it is 
])()ssible to state within a month or so at what age one-half 
of all children jKissess a j^^^iven tooth. 'J'his aj^e is rela- 
tively the normal age. If, then, a child's teeth erupt at 
the chronological ages indicated in the following table as 
Taiili'; Sii()\vin<; iiikAcik of ICkui'tion ok tmic Pickmanicnt 'ri';i':Tn * 

A SCALE FOR MEASUKINCJ ANATOMICAL AGE 



Name of tooth 



Lower first molar 

Upper llrsl molar 

Lower c:enl,r.'il incisors. 
Upper eeiiUal iiieisors. 
Lower lateral incisors.. 
UjjpcM- laUM-al iticisors. . 
Upp(!r first premolai's. . 
Lower first pn^molars. . 

Lowi;r canines 

Upper second i)remoIars 
lAtwv.r sec^ond jiremolars 

Up|)er canines 

L()W(>r se("on(l molars. . 
lJpp(>r second molars. . 
Third molars 



Normul ajco 
(premint in 
SO \n'.r c.(Mit.) 



6yrs. J710S. 

6yrs. 3 mos. 

6yrs. () mos. 

7 yrs. 6 mos. 

7 yrs. mos. 

H yrs. 6 mos. 
10 yrs. o mos. 
10 yrs. C) mos. 

10 yrs. mos. 

1 1 yrs. o n)os. 
1 1 yrs. 6 mos. 
1 1 yrs. 9 mos. 

1 1 yrs. 9 mos. 

12 yrs. 6 mos. 
17th to 24th 

year 



PrcHont in 
25 jxrr rent, 
of cliilflren 



5 y»"'^. 
5 y»'-^. 

(i yrs. 
7 yrs. 
7 yrs. 
H yrs. 
« yrs. 

9 ys. 

9 yrs. 

9 yrs. 
10 yrs. 
10 yrs. 

10 yrs. 

1 1 yrs. 



6 mos. 
9 mos. 
o mos. 
omos. 
omos. 
omos. 
9 mos. 
Omos. 
9 mos. 
9 mos. 
3 mos. 
9 mos. 
9 mos. 
6 mos. 



PreBont in 

7S t)«ir c«mt. 

or children 



6 yi'S. 

7 yrs, 

7 ys. 

8 yrs. 

8 yrs. 

9 yis. 

10 yrs. 

1 1 yrs. 

1 2 y rs. 
1 2 y rs. 
1 2 yrs, 
1 2 yrs. 

14 yrs. 

14 yrs. 



6 mos. 
o mos. 
mos. 
3 mos. 
mos. 
3 mos. 
f9 mos. 
9 mos. 
3 mos. 
omos. 
6 mos. 
9 mos. 
o mos. 
3 mos. 



* Thi<« tuhlf! is h(isc<! mainly on the data of JamcH and Pitts. "S«)mf; NotcB on 
thr D.itcs of ICrui)ti<)n f)f 4,«S<> ('hildrcn, Arch under Twelve," I'mrerdinRS nf the 
Royal Sorirty of Mrdirinc, vol. v. 1012. Tt agrees atibstantially with the data of 
Tivan on dentition in American school childrrn. 



' Bean, op. cit., pp. 603-605. 



104 ANATOMICAL AGE 

normal, he is normal in anatomical age; if his teeth erupt 
at a later age, he is anatomically retarded, and if at an 
earlier age, anatomically advanced. The table does not 
give different norms for the different sexes, for it is 
desirable to have one standard for both sexes, just as in the 
scale for measuring intelligence. Then, by applying the 
same standard of anatomical development to each sex, 
the difference l^etween the sexes can easily be measured. 

The Ossification of the Wrist Bones. — The stage of 
skeletal development is best judged by the bones of the 
wrist. The wrist contains eight small bones, the carpal 
bones, the development of each of which, from cartilage 
into bone, occurs at a different age. The change from 
cartilage to bone, known as ossification, is readily fol- 
lowed by means of Rontgen ray photographs. The first 
ossification, that of the os magnum, occurs towards the 
end of the first year of life, and the last, that of the pisi- 
form bone, occurs normally during the eleventh year. 
The ossification of the other wrist bones is distributed 
over the inteniicdiate years. 

In addition to the stages formed by the development 
of the wrist bones, there are others, marked by certain 
changes in the wrist end of the bones of the forearm, the 
tdna and the radius. The ossification of a bone such as the 
ulna or the radius begins in its middle portion, or shaft. 
The shaft grows in length by an extended ossification of 
the cartilage towards both ends. While the shaft is thus 
growing towards the ends of the bone, ossification begins 
at new starting points in the ends and progresses towards 
the centre. Thus at one stage in the formation of a bone 
like those of the forearm, the shaft is separated from 
the ends of the bone by a zone of cartilage. The shaft 
and the ends, the latter known as epiphyses, continue 



THE OSSIFICATION OF THE WRIST BONES 105 

to grow towards each other until there is a complete 
bony union. 

The different stages of development of the ends, or 
epiphyses of the ulna and radius form a valuable supple- 
ment to the scale of anatomical age afforded by the devel- 
opment of the wrist bones. The development of the 
end of the ulna is particularly valuable, because complete 
bony union with the shaft is not established until long 
after the last of the wrist bones has ossified. Additional 
information concerning anatomical age may sometimes 
be gained by studying the degree of development shown 
by the ends of the bones in the palm of the hand, and in 
the fingers and thumb. All the bones of the hand and 
wrist, as well as the ends of the ulna and radius, are 
easily included in one radiograph. Consequently, by a 
single, objective impression, an accurate record of a 
child's anatomical age may be obtained. The record may 
be taken as often as desired, and at any age from 
birth to maturity. 

Of all the indicators of anatomical age, the stages of 
development shown by the skeleton and the teeth are the 
most reliable. The development of the skeleton, in par- 
ticular, is very little affected by adverse circumstances. 
This has been shown by several studies on the effect 
upon the growth of the various bodily organs, brought 
about by underfeeding of animals. These studies estab- 
lish the fact that the bones form the most stable part of 
the body. Dr. Jackson, studying the growth of young 
white rats, found that the skeleton continues to grow 
even when, by means of underfeeding, the weight of the 
body as a whole is kept constant. " The increase in the 
skeleton during constant body weight," he writes, 
*' appears to involve the ligaments as well as the cartilages 



io6 ANATOMICAL AGE 

and bones. ' The skeletal growth tends to proceed along 
the lines of normal development, as indicated by the 
decrease in water-content and by formation and union 
of various epiphyses." '^ Like results have been obtained 
by investigations of the calf, the dog and the cat. Like- 
wise it has been found that malnutrition in children 
retards growth in length (consequently, skeletal growth) 
less than growth in Ixxly weight, so that the skeleton may 
continue to grow even while the weight of the body re- 
mains practically at a standstill. 

rh()togra])lis of the wrist bones have been compared 
with those of other parts of the skeleton, such as the 
elbow, shoulder, knee, and ankle. The result has been 
general agreement that the development of the wrist 
bones affords both the most reliable and the most prac- 
tical single index of general skeletal development. " It 
has been determined," writes Rotch, '' that the appearance 
of the carpal bones and the epiphyses of the radius and 
ulna represent the stage of development of all the other 
epiphyses throughout the skeleton, so that the bones of 
the wrist may be relied upon to judge of epiphyseal 
development without having to take Rontgen pictures 
of the other epiphyses." ^ 

Variation in the Anatomical Age of Children. — 1 have 
already pointed out that children of the same chrono- 
logical age vary enormously in intelligence, or mental age. 
1 have indicated that in an average group of one hundred 
ten-year-old school children, we may expect to fmd chil- 
dren of all mental ages from seven to thirteen. Simi- 

' " Changes in the Relative Weights of the Various Parts, Sys- 
tems and Origans of Younp: Albino Rats TTeld at Constant Rody 
Weight hy Underfeeding- for Varions Periods." Journal of Experi- 
mental Zoology, vol. xix, 1915, p. 153. 

" O/). cit., p. 397. 



VARIATION IN ANATOMICAL AGE 107 

larly, as is proved by data in the following chapter, in 
any large school system, ten-year-old children may be 
found in all grades from the first to the sixth, and this 
in spite of a certain tendency of the schools to force all 
children along at a uniform rate. Thus, both in mental 
age and school grade, ten-year-old children are found 
distributed over a range equal to that covered by 
normal children differing by five or six years in 
chronological age. 

This variation in the mental ability of ten-year-old 
children, large as it is, is almost equalled by that in ana- 
tomical age. Measured by whatever index, the anatomical 
ages of ten-year-old children distribute themselves over a 
distance which it takes the average child five or six years 
to traverse. Such great deviations from normal make it 
highly important that anatomical age be taken into con- 
sideration in estimating the child's potentialities. With- 
out a knowledge of a child's anatomical age, we cannot 
properly appraise his mental ability. I have stated that 
mental age has significance only when compared with 
chronological age. It acquires its true significance, how- 
ever, only when compared with anatomical age. It is con- 
sequently well to realize how greatly children of the same 
chronological age vary in anatomical age. I shall give 
illustrations of the extent of this variation in the case of 
all three of the commonly used indices — dentition, pubes- 
cence, and ossification of the wrist bones. 

In the table showing the age of eruption of the various 
permanent teeth, it is indicated that the chronological 
age at which a given tooth will erupt in twenty-five per 
cent, of children is considerably lower than the age which 
must be reached before it will be present in seventy-five 
per cent, of them. The difference between the two ages 



io8 ANATOMICAL AGE 

is about one year for the first molars and the incisors, 
but increases to two years or over for the remaining 
teeth; so that we may say that with fifty per cent, of chil- 
dren, each tooth makes its appearance during an age inter- 
val of one or two years. The total range of ages, however, 
at which a tooth may appear is much greater than this. 
The upper central incisors, for example, appear in some 
children as early as the age of live years and three months. 
and in others as late as nine years and nine months, thus 
covering a range of four years and six months. The 
upper lateral incisors cover a range of over five years, 
and the upper premolars and canines a range of over 
six years. 

The older the normal age of appearance of a tooth, the 
greater will be the range of years at which it may appear. 
This is simply one aspect of the general law that differ- 
ences between individuals measured in terms of years of 
development tend to increase as the individuals grow older. 
Just as a slight difference in mental age at the earlier 
ages is the equivalent of a large one at the later ages, 
so does a slight difference in anatomical age at the earlier 
ages predict a large one at later ages. 

In regard to pubescence, Crampton has found that 
some boys cross this landmark of physical development 
as early as the age of twelve and a half, while others do 
not do so before the age of seventeen and a half to 
eighteen. There is a variation, then, in the male sex alone, 
of five years. Crampton distingtiishes three stages, which 
he calls the pre-pubescent, the pubescent and the post- 
pubescent. The percentage of boys which he found in each 
of these three stages is shown in the following table, 

covering the ages of twelve and a half to eighteen.^ 

■ 
• Pedagogical Seminary, vol. xv, 1908, p. 232. 



VARIATION IN ANATOMICAL AGE 



109 



Age of Pubescence in Boys 



Age in years 


Pre-pubescent 


Pubescent 


Post-pubescent 




(per cent.) 


(per cent.) 


(per cent.) 


I2.5-13.O 


69 


25 


6 


13-0-13.5 


55 


26 


18 


I3.5-14.O 


41 


28 


31 


I4.O-14.5 


26 


34 


40 


I4.5-15.O 


16 


24 


60 


15.0-15-5 


9 


20 


70 


I5.5-16.O 


5 


10 


85 


16.O-16.5 


2 


4 


93 


16.5-17.O 


I 


4 


95 


17.O-17.5 





2 


98 


17.5-18.O 








100 



To give an idea of the variation in anatomical age 
as measured by the development of the carpal bones, I 
cannot do better than to describe the results of an inten- 
sive study of one hundred ten-year-old school children 
undertaken at my suggestion by Mr. Severson, principal 
of a grade school in the city of Minneapolis. The Rontgen 
ray photographs of these ten-year-old children differed 
so greatly that we found it possible to distinguish ten 
different stages of anatomical age. The lowest of these 
classes corresponds to that shown by an average girl of 
about eight years of age (or boy of seven) and the high- 
est to that of an average girl of about fourteen years 
(or boy of twelve). The range in anatomical age of our 
ten-year-old group then, including both boys and girls, is 
about six years. 

The accompanying photographs show what radical 
variations exist in the anatomical development of these 
children, all ten years old chronologically. The highest 
class, represented by radiograph No. i, shows a good 
development of the pisiform bone, the last of the eight 
carpals to ossify. It shows, too, a very good develop- 



no ANATOMICAL AGE 

ment of the ends, or epiphyses, of the radius (the large 
forearm bone) and of the ulna (the small forearm bone). 
Ossification of the epiphyses has progressed so far that 
there begins to be a junction of the epiphyses with the 
shafts. All the carpal bones of the wrist are well devel- 
oped, so that there is little space between them. It may 
be noted, too, that this advanced stage of anatomical 
development does not necessitate a large hand. The hand 
shown in radiograph No. i is small, but better developed 
than the larger, Nos. 2 and 3. 

Radiograph No. 2 represents the sixth (counting up 
from the lowest) of the ten classes which we were able to 
distinguish in ten-year-old children. It is the lowest 
class in which the pisiform is plainly evident. The pisi- 
form shows simply as a dark spot lying below and to one 
comer of the cuneiform. The epiphyses, particularly that 
of the ulna, are very poorly developed compared with 
their condition in class ten (radiograph No. i). 

Radiograph No. 3 represents one of the least devel- 
oped hands in the entire group of one hundred. There 
is absolutely no trace of a pisiform bone, and, what is 
much more striking, scarcely more than a speck to repre- 
sent the epiphysis of the ulna. According to Pryor, the 
ulnar epiphysis appears typically at the age of six and 
a quarter in girls, and seven and a quarter in boys. This 
hand does not correspond to an age much above these. 
It will be noted, too, that some of the other bones are 
very poorly developed, so that there are large spaces left 
between them. 

Sex Differences. — It is well known that girls reach 
the age of puberty on the average about two and a half 
years earlier than boys. At this period the anatomical age 



SEX DIFFERENCES 



Hi 



of the girl is clearly well beyond that of the boy of the 
same chronological age. It is not so commonly realized 
that this difference between the sexes in anatomical age 
is well marked by the end of the first year of life, and 
that it is present in ever increasing degree from the first 
year up to and beyond the age of puberty. That, however, 
is the conclusion to which leads either of the measures, 
eruption of teeth or the ossification of carpals. 

A comparison of the sexes as regards anatomical age 
has been worked out in some detail by Pr>^or on the basis 
of carpal ossification. In round figures he finds the fol- 
lowing differences: From the age of one to the age of 
two, the difference in anatomical age is about one-half 
year. Anatomically, the girl of one and a half years is 
as old as the boy of two. This difference gradually 
increases. At the age of four the girl is anatomically 
as old as the Boy of five. By the age of seven and a half 
the girl is as old anatomically as the boy of nine, and by 
the age of ten and a quarter she is as old as the boy of 
twelve and three-quarters. This latter difference agrees 
with that displayed at puberty, with respect to which we 
may say that the girl of twelve and a half is as old as 
the boy of fifteen. 

These differences may be summed up in a little table, 
showing at what ages the two sexes are equal in ana- 
tomical age. 

The table shows that sex differences, like individual 
differences, increase with age. A similar table based on 
dentition would corroborate this fact. American girls 
at the age of eleven possess on the average 21.3 per- 
manent teeth; the boys can boast only 17.3.^^ 

^° Bean, op. cit, p. 599- 



112 



ANATOMICAL AGE 



Sex Differences ix Anatomical Ace as Measured by 
Ossification of the Wrist Bones 



Girl's i»jo 


Anatonnortlly equivalent 
boys age 


Difference 


1 NT. 6 inos. 


2 NTS. mos. 


6 mos. 


2 NTS. I1K\>. 

3 NTS. (> nu^s. 


3 NTS. 3 mos. 

4 NTS. 3 mos. 


9 mt^. 
9 mos. 


4 yrs. g mos. 
yi-s. 3 mc\<;. 

7 yrs. nu\^. 

8 vrs. 6 nu^s. 


5 yrs. 9 mos. 

7 NTS. 3 mos. 

9 yrs. mos. 

10 vrs. o mos. 


12 mos. 
12 mos. 
18 mos. 
iS mos. 


10 yi-s. 3 iiK^s. 
I J NTS. mas. 


12 yrs. 9 mos. 
15 yrs. mos. 


30 mos. 
30 mos. 



To illustrate the difference in anatomical ago between 
the sexes. I have chosen two Ronti^en photographs. One 
of these shows the carpal development of the median girl 
and the other of the median Ix^y, Ix^th of the same cliro- 
nological age group, a group distnbuted closely around 
ten and a half. The ditterence between these two ront- 
genographs, here reproduced, equals alx^ut two years of 
chronological age. The pisifonn lx>ne in the girl's hand 
(No. 4") is of considerable size, though it does not stand 
out clearly in the photograph Ixx'ause it is behind the 
cuneiform lv>ne. It will be notet.!, too, tliat the general 
b.Mie development is much better in the girl's wrist. In 
particular, tlie epiphysis of the ulna is thicker, and more 
closely approaches union with the shaft. In tlie boy's 
wrist (No. 5) there is only a vague suggestion of the 
presence of the pisifonn (an indistinct, dark spot at one 
corner of the cuneifonn") and the development of 
the other carpal lx">nes is mucli less adN-anced than in 
the girl's wrist. 

Anatomical Age and Mental Ability. — Children of 
the same chronological age, as we have seen, ditter con 
spicuously in both anatomical and mental age. This fact 



ANATOMICAL AGE AND MENTAL ABILITY 113 

suggests that a considerable part of the differences in 
mental age may be due to differences in anatomical age. 
Thus the differences in mental age may not always signify 
differences in brightness, but may l:>e due simply to dif- 
ferences in rapidity of growth — to a difference in the 
mental and physical stage already reached rather than a 
difference in the final level to be attained. 

Anatomical age gives in physical terms alone the stage 
of a child's development. The question is, Does his men- 
tal stage correspond to his physical? Before we attempt 
to answer this question, it is important carefully to dis- 
tinguish between mental age and mental stage. 

Children reach different final levels of intelligence, and 
at different rates. We may consider mental growth evi- 
denced by children of different degrees of brightness as 
following different pathways, some of which lead to much 
higher final levels than others. Now whatever the final 
level to which a pathway leads, progress along it may be 
either rapid or slow. Consequently, knowledge of the 
path the child is taking is a different thing from knowl- 
edge of the proportion of its total length which he has 
covered. Any measure which indicates whether or not 
the child is following a high path or a low path is a meas- 
ure of brightness ; whereas any measure of the proportion 
of the path already covered at a given time is a measure 
of mental stage. 

Mental age reports the amount of a child's intelli- 
gence, but not the proportion of his final intelligence 
attained. It is true that from mental age we may try to 
determine this proportion by use of the intelligence quo- 
tient. But when we do this, we assume that all children 
of the same chronological age have completed the same 
proportion of their mental development. We say, for 
8 



114 ANATOMICAL AGE 

example, that whatever a child's mental age at ten, it is 
ten-sixteenths of what it will be at sixteen. That this 
assumption, true for the average, is erroneous in indi- 
vidual cases, is demonstrated by the great variation in 
developmental stage of children of the same chronological 
age. We must seek a more reliable indicator of develop- 
mental progress than mere chronological age. Now 
anatomical age furnishes us with a good index of the 
stage of physical development. Can we not stretch its 
use to make it serve as an indicator of the stage of 
mental development? 

The surest way to solve this problem of correspond- 
ence between mental stage and physical stage is to follow 
out both the mental and physical development of each one 
of a large group of cliildren from an early age to maturity. 
Such an investigation requires a number of years and 
has not yet been made. In the meantime, light is shed 
on the question by ascertaining whether there is any 
considerable correlation between mental age and ana- 
tomical age in children of the same chronological age. 
Such a correlation would indicate that mental development 
tends to keep pace with the anatomical, and consequently 
that anatomical age may be used as an indicator of mental 
stage. As I shall show, there exists a very decided cor- 
relation. It cannot be explained simply on the assump- 
tion that a high degree of brightness is accompanied by 
an advanced anatomical age ; for there exists no evidence 
that superior children complete tlieir anatomical develop- 
ment earlier than the dull ones. Its explanation lies solely 
in the association of rapidity of anatomical development 
with rapidity of mental development. 

I shall first cite data on the relation of mental age to 



ANATOMICAL AGE AND MENTAL ABILITY 115 

the degree of development shown by the bones of the 
wrist. In the case of ten-year-old children, Mr. Severson 
and I were able to distinguish ten anatomical classes. To 
indicate the correlation of anatomical stage with mental 
age, we made a table showing the average mental age of 
each of the ten anatomical classes. The lowest anatomical 
class (figure No. 7, radiograph No. 3) had an average 
mental age of exactly nine years. The highest class 
(figure No. 7, radiograph No. i) had an average mental 
age of over ten years and eleven months. Variation in 
anatomical age, in children of the same chronological 
age, thus produced a variation of about two years in 
mental age. 

Our observations are in harmony with those made by 
Rotch and others. Rotch cites an instance of three boys 
of the third grade. Their chronological ages were seven, 
eight and nine respectively. Thus, in mental ability, so 
far as could be judged from their school work, they were 
about equal, whereas in chronological age they differed 
considerably. The Rontgen pictures showed them all to 
be equally old anatomically, indicating that it is the ana- 
tomical age, rather than the chronological, which corre- 
sponds with mental ability. 

That mental age is related to anatomical is shown not 
only by its relation to skeletal development but by its rela- 
tion to the development of the teeth — as discovered by 
Bean, in a study of the children in the public schools of 
Ann Arbor, Michigan. Bean called that grade in which 
were found the majority of children of any given age the 
modal grade for that age. He then classified the children 
of all ages from seven to fourteen inclusive into three 
groups: those who were in the modal grade, those who 
were above it, and those who were below it. He sums up 



ii6 ANATOMICAL AGE 

his findings in the statement that children in the modal 
grade have an average of eight-tenths of a tooth less than 
those who are abcwe the modal grade, but nine-tenths of a 
tooth more than those who are below the modal grade. ^^ 
The relation of anatomical age to mental age is seen 
also in the relationship of pubescence to scholarship, on 
which very decisive data have been gathered by Cramp- 
ton.^- He shows that boys of the same chronological 
age group differ with respect to pubescence according to 
the high school term which they have reached. For exam- 
ple, among boys between the chronological ages of four- 
teen and fourteen and a half, the percentage of pre-pubes- 
cents in the more advanced terms is much less than that 
in the hrst term. The relation between scholarship and 
pubescence in these boys is shown in the following 
table, which is typical of the results obtained with other 
age groups : 

Relation of Pubescence to Scholarship in Boys Averaging 14.25 
Years in Chronological Age 

High School Percentage of 

Term pre-pubcscents 

First 42.9 

Second 2,7.^ 

Third 30.4 

Fourth and Fifth 16.7 

Crampton also compared post-pubescents with pre- 
pubescents of each age with respect to the percentage 
gaining promotion or failure at the end of the term. For 
each age group he found that the percentage gaining pro- 
motion was from seven to ten per cent, greater for the 
post-pubescents than for the pre-pubescents. 

The preceding studies show that in whatever manner 

" Op. cit., p. 613. 

""Physiological Age," Section II. Amcrkan Physical Educa- 
tion Rdnnew, vol. xiii, 1908, pp. 224-227. 



HEIGHT AND WEIGHT 117 

we measure anatomical age, we find it correlated with 
mental ability. We must conclude, therefore, that the 
development of the brain and of intelligence advances 
or lags with acceleration or retardation of general 
lx)dily development. Whether the brightness of a child 
is high or low, the rapidity with which he completes 
his mental growth is correlated with the rapidity of his 
anatomical development. 

Relation of Height and Weight to Anatomical Age 
and to Mental Ability.-— All investigators have found that 
height and weight are much more closely related to 
anatomical age than to chronological age. This is but 
natural. The more advanced a child's physical develop- 
ment, the taller and heavier will he be. Thus, Crampton 
found that children of the same age with a full set of 
permanent canines averaged from five to seventeen pounds 
more in weight and from one-half an inch to three inches 
more in height than those with none.^^ He found, 
similarly, that post-pubescents average twenty-four to 
thirty-three, per cent, heavier than pre-pubescents of 
the same age.^'* 

We have already seen that mental ability varies with 
anatomical age. It is reasonable, therefore, to expect some 
correlation between mental ability and height and weight. 
Such correlation is now well confirmed. Porter found 
that the average weight of eleven-year-old boys in the 
sixth grade was ten pounds greater than the average of 
those of the same age in the first grade. Similar results 
were obtained in the case of the other age groups.^^ 

•'•"The Influence of Physiological Age Upon Scholarship." 
Psychological Clinic, vol, i, 1907, p. 120. 

"O/). c%t.. p. 116. 

"" Growth of St. Louis Children." Transactions of the Academy 
of Science of St. Louis, vol. vi, 1894, pp. 263-380. 



ii8 ANATOMICAL AGE 

The average height and weight of the feeble-minded 
is less than that of normal children, and their divergence 
from the normal increases with the severity of their men- 
tal defectiveness/^ On the other hand, exceptionally 
bright children average somewhat above normal children 
in height and weight. *In this connection, it is interesting 
to note that the children of professional men are taller 
and heavier than those of the less favored laboring class.^^ 
I have already called attention to the fact that child- 
ren of the professional classes are brighter than those 
of the laboring classes. It is clear, then, that a higher 
degree of brightness goes hand in hand with a better 
physical development." 

The Educational Value of Measurements of Ana- 
tomical Age. — Knowledge of anatomical age has a decided 
value from the standpoint of education. It is useful in 
the diagnosis of a child's abilities, physical and mental, in 
the forecasting of his future development and in planning 
and regulating his education. It also solves some educa- 
tional problems that have hitherto been puzzling. 

Of first importance is the use that should be made of 
anatomical age in deciding whether or not a child's men- 
tal development is normal. The problem is just how 
to employ anatomical age in the estimate of a child's true 
brightness. Brightness, as here used, is measured by the 
intelligence quotient; that is, by mental age divided by 
chronological age. The question arises, should we not 
substitute anatomical age for chronological age in calcu- 

" Wylie, " Contribution to the Study of the Growth of the Feeble- 
Minded in Height and Weight," Journal of Psycho-Asthcnics, vol. 
viii, 1903, pp. 1-7; and Goddard, "The Height and Weight of Feeble- 
Minded Children in American Institutions," Journal of Mental and 
Ncri'ous Diseases, vol. xxxix, 1015. P- 217-235. 

" See Baldwin, " Physical Growth and School Progress." U. S. 
Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 10, 1914, pp. M4-150. 



MEASUREMENTS OF ANATOMICAL AGE 119 

lating the intelligence quotient? The answer must be 
negative. The relation between anatomical age and men- 
tal age is not close enough to justify substituting anatomi- 
cal age for chronological. A large difference in anatomical 
age in children of the same chronological age brings about 
only a comparatively small difference in mental age. The 
solution lies in the correction of chronological age 
by the anatomical, not the substitution of anatomical 
for chronological. 

It is difficult at present to state exactly what correction 
should be made. I wish, however, to emphasize that we 
should not expect the average or normal child's mentality 
to correspond to his anatomical age, if the latter differs 
widely from his chronological age. All that we should 
expect, if the child is normal, is that his mentat age should 
deviate somczvhat from his chronological, in the direction 
of his anatomical age. If I were to estimate how large this 
deviation of his mental age from his chronological should 
be, I would say about one-third as great as the deviation 
of his anatomical age from his chronological. This ratio 
is based on the data presented earlier in this chapter, 
showing that differences of anatomical age amounting to 
as much as six years in a group of one hundred children, 
entailed differences in mental age of only two years. 

If, then, by inspection of his teeth or by a radiograph 
of his wrist bones, we find that a child's anatomical age 
is above his chronological, we should consider the child 
to be somewhat older chronologically than he really is; 
whereas, if he is retarded in anatomical age, we should 
consider him somewhat younger than he really is. 

That a knowledge of anatomical age is also of great 
value in preventing mental and physical overstrain, has 
been pointed out by a number of authorities. According 



120 ANATOMICAL AGE 

to Rotch, a very largo i)r()[)()rti()n of the nervous and 
physical troubles of children are due to overstrain caused 
by forced conf(jrniing with general surroundings and 
school work not adapted to their needs. It is probably con- 
servative to say that when a child's anatonn'cal age is less 
than his chronological, attention should be devoted pri- 
marily lo his hcallh. Such a child, no matter how 
precocious he may be, should not \yc urged on in his 
school work, but given plenty of systematic exercise and 
rest, a thorough medical examination, and, if needed, 
medical treatment. 

To illnslratc moiv iui detiiil the application of a 
Knowledge of anatomical age, Terman may be quoted: 
" Let us imagine," he writes, " tw(^ girls in a fourth grade 
class who are a little slow in their work and alxnit the 
advisabilily of whose year-end promotion the teacher is in 
some donbt. I'oth pupils, let us say, are not so low in 
their marks but that they might be expected, with con- 
siderable extra effort , to carry the work of the following 
grade i f promoted. Ihit wiMild it be wise to have the child 
risk the extra effort this wcnild require? We cannot 
answer this (|nestion on the basis of weight, height, 
strength of gi"i|), or the presence or absence of external 
])hysical defecliveness. I'.nt if radiograi)hs should reveal 
(hat one of the girls is a year ahead of her age in the 
physiological devek^pment and that the other is a year in 
retard, there would then be little doubt alK")Ut the wisdom 
of risking promotion in the fc^-mer case and denying it 
in the latter. A few years hence," he concludes, ** may 
see the installation of the Rontgcn apparatus in the 
hygiene departments of all cities where school medical 
supervision is practiced." ^^ 

"'•The Hygiene of llic School Child." 1014. pp. 68-60. 



MEASUREMENTS OF ANATOMICAL AGE 121 

P>csi{lcs e'lKihliiiL'; lis belter lo appraise a child's capaci- 
ties, analoinieal aj;e, as I have staled, offers an ex[)lana- 
tioii of some iHiz/.hni;- edneational problems. One of the 
most halllinL;' of these, a perennial sonrce of discussion, 
is the fact that, ;;irls do better in school than boys. Why 
do i;irls oblain belter marks, fail less often and show 
a smaller ])ercenlai;e of elimination from school than 
boys? J am convinced that these evidenices of mental 
superiority are more than accounted for by the superior 
anatonn'cal ai;e of the girls. We conslantly compare girls 
with boys who anatomically are a year or two younger. 
It is nnnecessai-y and altogether groundless to assume, as 
is so often done, that the schools are better adapted to a 
girl's ty])e of nniid than to a boy's, or that the prepon- 
derance of women teachers in our schools gives the girls 
an advantage over their classmates of the opposite sex. 
It is necessary, however, to concede that girls are more 
intelligent than boys, because an advantage in anatomical 
age could not account for superior scholarship unless it 
carried with it an advantage in mental ability. Now, is it 
conceivable that girls are more intelligent than boys? 
However reluctant the contident male may be to make this 
admission, the facts demand it. As I have pointed out 
in a previous chapter, the best data at hand show that 
throughout the grades girls have a slightly higher mental 
age than boys of the same chronological age. 

This surprising proof, that girls arc more intelligent 
than boys should not be nn'sunderstood. Ciirls are more 
intelligent than, boys only when the comparison is l)ased, 
as it usually is, on chronological age. I hit allowance must 
be made for the greater anatomical age of the girls. To 
be actually thcj mental equal of the l)oys, the girls should 
exceed them in mental age by at least one-third as much 



122 ANATOMICAL ACUC 

as llh'y do in anatomical ai/c! Now, llio average girl 
ol" ten is ahoiil Iwcnly-foiir nionllis ahead of the average 
boy ill anatomical age. One-third of twenty- f(.)ur months 
is eight inonlhs. To he the hoy's meiil.il t'tinal, then, the 
(cn-year-olil girl shonld show a mental advance of eight 
months over the hoy. Ccrtalnlv, she is not this far ahead 
of him. She (.Uks not exceed him mentally by more than 
four or live months. C'onsecjnently, we may conclnde that 
when proper allowance is made for the girls' superiority in 
anatomical age, they will he fonnd slightly less intelligent 
than the hoys. 



CHAPTER VII 
PEDAGOGICAL AGE 

Definition of Pedagogical Age on the Basis of " Nor- 
mal " Ages. — 'J'hcrc lias long existed an educational tra- 
dition that the proper age for entering school is six, and 
lliat after entrance progress should be made at the rate 
of one grade a year. The officers of our schools are in 
Ihc hahit of speaking of the age of six as the ** normal " 
.'ige of a child in the first grade; of seven as the normal 
age in the second ; and so on, allowing one additional 
year for each additional grade. According to this theory, 
(here is a normal age for each grade. A child who is 
over the normal age for his grade is called retarded, or 
hclow grade, and one who is under the normal age is called 
advanced, or above grade. 

It is the usual thing to .allow an extra year in the way 
of a concession to the child. In this way, a child in the 
first grade is not retarded unless he is eight years of age 
or over. To concede this additional year is no more 
(hail fair, i)roviding the ages are taken in the month of 
June or near the close of the year, as they should be. 
This becomes evident if we consider what is meant by the 
statement that a child should enter school at the age of 
six. The age of six may mean anything from six to seven. 
A child entering at the age of six may, then, be entering 
actually at the age of six years and eleven months. At 
the end of the school year, he will be nine months older — 
seven years and eight months. It would hardly be fair to 
call this child retarded. If wc neglect fractions of a year 

123 



124 PEDAGOGICAL AGE 

we cannot call a child in the tirst grade retarded unless he 
is eight or over. 

Allowing the child an extra year, we obtain the fol- 
lowing standard of "normal" ages for each grade: 

Grade Normal ages 

1 6 or 7 

2 7 or 8 

3 8 or 9 

4 .J 9 or lo 

5 lo or II 

6 II or 12 

7 1-2 or 13 

8 13 or 14 

This standard is more widely accepted than any other, 
and in spite of its lack of precision as compared with 
the norms that have been established for mental tests, it 
is a \cry useful one. It affords the best basis for a defini- 
tion of pedagogical age. On this basis, we may define 
the pedagogical age of a child as the '' normal age " of 
the school grade which he has attained. Thus, if a child 
is in tlie fourth grade, pedagogically he is nine or ten 
years of age, since nine and ten are the normal ages for 
the fourth grade. If tlie child's chronological age happens 
also to be either nine or ten, the child is said to be of 
normal pedagogical age, or in the normal grade for his 
age; if his chronological age is over ten, he is pedagogi- 
cally retarded, or below grade; whereas if his chrono- 
logical age is less than nine, he is pedagogically advanced, 
or above grade. 

It is impossible to be too careful in distinguishing 
between the terms above grade and below grade, on the 
one hand, and superior and dull on the other. Recent 
statistical investigations have shown that the theoretically 
normal ages are not quite those of the average cliild. The 



RETARDATION AND ADVANCEMENT 125 

average child does not measure up to the ideal standard. 
Consequently, when a child falls below the grade in which 
he should be according to the theoretical standard, he is 
not called dull nor mentally retarded. He is simply peda- 
gogically retarded. While many mentally retarded chil- 
dren are below grade, certainly many are below grade 
who are not mentally retarded. It is probable that the 
children who are above grade are, for the most part, above 
normal in brightness; but many children who are above 
normal in brightness never rank above grade. It is clear, 
then, that the relation between a child's mental age and 
his pedagogical age always has to be determined by in- 
vestigation ; it can never be taken for granted. 

The Prevalence of Pedagogical Retardation and 
Advancement. — The pedagogical standing of school chil- 
dren has been the subject of several elaborate investi- 
gations. Careful inquiry has been made into the number 
of children pedagogically normal, retarded or advanced. 
Very serious conditions have been discovered which raise 
some of the most deeply rooted problems in psychology 
and education, problems which we are only beginning 
to solve. 

Ayres, in a now famous investigation, found that, on 
the average, about one-third of all the pupils in our city 
public schools belong to the retarded or above age class.^ 
The later results of Stray er ,2 based on investigations in 
384 cities, agree substantially with those of Ayres, though, 
to be exact, they show a slightly greater percentage of 
retardation. The percentage of retardation is, of course, 
not the same in all schools, but shows great variation. 

^ Ayres, " Laggards in Our Schools," 1909, p. 3. 
' Strayer, " Age and Grade Census of Schools and Colleges," 
United States Bureau of Education^ Bulletin, 191 1, No. 5, p. 103. 



126 PEnACOOTCAL AGK 

Ayrcs found iUc \)c\\c\\[Ai\c .is low .is y.^ in Mod ford, 
Massachusetts, and .is liiidi as ;tvS in ihr rolorod scIkh^Is 
(d Memphis, Tcnnossct'. 

To understand the real exieni ol i>edaiM),i;ie.il rel.irda- 
tii>n, let ns consider \vhat it means to say that one-third 
of American city school children are retarded. It meaius 
that prolKd)ly a decided majority of all the children enter- 
inj; the schools of the averaj;e city >vill not thiish the eij;hth 
i;rade by the ai;e at which they shonKl " normally " tinish. 
A nnmhei- who heciune hadly relaided siniph' ne\cr linish 
the ei«;hth i;i aile at all, hnt drop ont ; and i i to this nnmlxM' 
are added those who ^U) finish hnl only .after they are over 
ai;e, we lind usually that the tt>tal is well i)ver one half 
the nnmher of children enterini; the SNstem. Morex)ver, 
many chiKlren who are retarded heciune badly retarded. 
CM all retariK'd chiKlren in a school system nearly half 
show twi> or more years of letardation. I>y conntiui^ 
up the total of years of retardation, consecpiently, we 
obtain a much lander numUM- than the niunlKM- oi 
children retariled. 

Ketarvlation bei;ins in the tnst i;rade and increases 
rapidly. W hen we imnc the a\eiai;e <">[ retard. ititui as one- 
thinl, this means that one-third of all the children are 
retaiiled, incliulini; even those in the tirst i;rade. who have 
had little time ti> become retarded. Now statistics uni- 
formly slu)\\ that most oi the children who once become 
letarded stav ret.u'ded. Mi>reover. with each ailditional 
i^rade. additit>nal pupils, on account i>l l.nlure. become 
retardcil. Consequently, the percentage of retarded chil- 
dren in a i;rade coutimies to increase from the tirst j^rade 
up io the hii;her *;rades. It wmiUl keep ou increasing;" 
clear up {o the eii^hth j;rade, except iov the fact that manv 
retarded children (far move of the retarded than oi the 



RE'J"ARDATION AND ADVANCEMENT 127 

others j drop (jut from one of the last two or three grades. 
In many schools, not over (jne-half the total number enter- 
ing finish the eighth grade. Discouragement, economic 
jjressure at liome, and the failure of the truancy laws 
jjerniit oi an extensive process of dropping out or " ehmi- 
nation." This elimination, and the further fact that elimi- 
nation is most marked among the retarded, accounts for 
the tendency of retardation jjcrcentages to remain con- 
stant or lo sIhav a shrinkage Ix^yond the fifth or sixth 
grade, 'fliat tl)(^ jjerccntage of retardation reaches its 
maximum as early as the fifth (jr sixth grade does not 
mean that in tlie last two f^r three grades there are no new 
children added to the ranks of the retardecl. New ones 
are added; but they merely take the place of others who 
have dropped out. 

Contrasted with the great mass of pedagogically 
retarded children, the numlx^r who are pedagogically 
advanced is diseouragingly small. According to statistics 
from Minnesota schools there are eight retarded children 
to one who is advanced;'' and according to the statistics 
of Strayer '* this ratio is alxjut the average for the cities 
of the United States. Thus, by the prevailing school 
standards, there are eight times as many retarded children 
as advanced children. A moment's thought shows that 
this is an extremely serious condition. We have seen in 
preceding chapters that so far as mental ability is con- 
cerned, there are very nearly the same numlxrr of children 
alxjve the average as l^elow it, the same number of superior 
as of dull. Clearly, then, when we find eight children 
who are below grade to one who is alxjve, we may l>e 

' F. E. Lurton, " A Study of Retardation in the Schools of Minne- 
sota." Science, 191 1, p. 786. 
* Op, cit., p. 103. 



128 PEDAGOGICAL AGE 

sure that childiTii arc not hcini;- properly classilicd in the 
grades of the puhlie sehools. 

Hie iigures would not be so alarming if the superior 
children, while nol advanced in grade, were yet given dif- 
ferent or more diriicnlt work, or held up to higher stand- 
ards. This is not the ease. As a rule, if any special pro- 
vision at all is made for the exceptionally bright children, 
it is simply some arrangement whereby they can skip a 
gratle or a half-grade. 

Our schools are plainly much better adapted to the 
discovery of dnllness than of exceptional brightness. If 
a child can cover one grade's work in one year, he can 
keep ste[) with the procession; there is little opportu- 
nity to do more; and if he cannot make progress at the 
standard rale, he must fall behind. The standard is a 
little too hard for the average, so that the number who 
fall behind exceeds the number who remain " normal/* 
The system in vogue in the public schools results in a. classi- 
fication of children whereby the majority are retarded by 
the age of rifleen, and the minority normal. The exist- 
ence of a large class oi children superior to the normal is 
[)racticalh' ignored. 

Elimination as Studied by Age and Grade Distribu- 
tions. — The subject i)^ i)edagogical retardation is clovsely 
related to that of eliminatij>n from school. It will be 
well, therefore, before proceeding to a further analysis of 
retardation, brielly to review the facts concerning" elimina- 
tion. These facts are best brought (nit by the study of 
tables, known as age and grade distributicms, which show 
for an entire school or an entire school system the number 
of children of each age in each of the grades. A fairly 
typical sample is the accompanying one, vshowing the age 
and grade distribution of all the white children in tlie 



AGE AND GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS 129 

regular elementary schools of the city of St. Louis at 
the end of the school year.^ 

It will be observed that the totals at the right give 
the number of children of each age in the school system, 
or, in other words, the age distribution. The totals at the 
bottom give the number of children in each grade, or the 
grade distribution. The numl>er of children who are nor- 
mal in age for their grade is given in numbers between 
the heavy staircase lines. All those above the upper 
heavy line are advanced, or under age, and all those below 
the lower heavy line are retarded, or over age. The total 
number of advanced children is 2001, or 3.2 per cent., 
while the total number of retarded is just ten times as 
great, 20,227, o^ 32.2 per cent. 

Examination of the number of children of each age, 
reveals that, as in the great majority of American city 
schools, the number of children of each age is fairly con- 
stant from the ages of seven to twelve inclusive. Nearly 
all the children are in school by the age of seven, and 
nearly all remain there through the age of twelve. With 
a stationary population, then, it would be reasonable to 
expect the age groups seven to twelve to remain roughly 
the same. The only factor to cause variation would be 
the population factor. This factor is regulated by two 
elements, death, and the number of children born in each 
succeeding year. The population factor tends to bring 
it alx)ut that there are in the community fewer twelve- 
year-old children than seven-year-old children. This is 
partly because a larger percentage of children die by the 
age of twelve than by the age of seven, and because, if 
the community has been growing, a smaller number of 

" Sixty-Second Annual Report of the Board of Education of the 
City of St. Louis, Missouri, for the year ending June 30, 1916, p. 322. 

9 



130 



i'KDAGUGlCAL AGE 



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AGE AND GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS 131 

children were born in it twelve years ago than seven years 
ago. Ay res calculates that, on account of these two 
factors alone, it is reasonable to exjxxt a decrease of over 
10 per cent, in the numlxir of children as we pass from 
seven to fourteen years of age. 

In the average city, children Ixrgin to drop out of school 
at the age of thirteen. Usually only a small percentage 
are eliminated at as early an age as thirteen, but during 
the ages of fourteen, fifteen and sixteen, elimination is 
extensive. After the age of sixteen, only a small frac- 
tion remain.^ 

Age distributions are often used as a basis upon which 
to estimate the number of children entering the school 
system each year. This may h>e taken as approximately 
equal to the average of the number at each of those ages, 
usually seven to twelve, at which the number tends to 
remain constant. For example, from the St. Louis age 
and grade distribution we could determine the number of 
white children entering the system each year for the past 
few years by taking the average of the age groups seven 
to twelve inclusive. We would thus find that the number 
centering each year was al^>out 7600. 

Turning now to the distribution of children by grades, 
it is interesting to note how the size of each grade compares 
with the numlKT known or supposed to l)e each year 
entering the school. As a rule the number of children 
in each of the first four grades is considerably greater 
than the numl>er entering. All the children who enter 
remain at least through these grades, and they pile up in 
numh>ers because they are held back by failure to pass. 
The fifth grade is typically about equal in size to the num- 
f>er entering; the sixth grade usually shows a falling ofif; 

' See Strayer, op. cit., pp. 29-44. 



132 PEDAGOGICAL AGE 

and bcyoiul lliis, llic si/.c tvf each j;rade doorcases until in 
llio oiL;lilh i;rado tlioro arc on the avorago soarooly more 
than hall" llio luimhor ontoring. Those ligurcs moan that 
AiiKMioan city schools on llio average tend to carry nearly 
all (heir clnldion into the fil'th grade, hut scarcely more 
llian hall' ol ihcni through the eighth grade. 1m-oui ouc- 
tcnlh to onc-lwcnliclh ol" the nuniher entering the grades 
reach the lonrth year ol" the high school. Cities dilTer 
widely, lu)\vcvcr, with respect to their ahility to hold chil- 
dren llnonLdi the higher grades. 

The Relation ot" Elimination to Pedagogical Retarda- 
tion. — The lacts ol elimination, which have now heen 
hrietly reviewed, need always to he kei)t in mind in con- 
sidering statistics on pedagogical retardation. It is elimi- 
nation alone which keei)s the percentage of retardation 
from mounting up to well over i"ifty per cent, in the eighth 
gratle. in the St. Louis schools, for which I have given 
an age and grade distrihiUion, it, may he noted that, as 
early as the fourth grade, the percentage of retarded chil- 
dren has climhed up to .15. At the eighth grade it has come 
down to Ji*^. Now shall we C(^nclude that in the upper 
grades, a great many retarded children catch up to grade? 
Si>me do, ])ut they are the exceptions. The decrease in the 
percentage (^f retaniation is due not to catching up, hut to 
elimination. It is easy t(^ show that were it not for 
elimination, something like 55 per cent, of the children 
in the eighth grade wt>uUl he retarded, simply hy determin- 
ing what percentage oi the numher entering fi'nish the 
eighth grade at or helow the normal ages. The numher 
entering, as ahwuly pointed out, may he taken roughly as 
y6oo. The munlKM- in the eighth grade at ov heUnv the 
normal ages, as indicated hy the age and grade distrihu- 
tii>n, is ;^^^S^^. ^^^ ahout .}5 per cent, of the uuiuIkm' entering. 



CAUvSES OF PEDAGOGICAL Rr7J^ARDAT10N 133 

The rcinaining 55 per cent, eillier never reach the ei^lilli 
grade or else are over age when they (l(j so In the 
St. J.ouis .scliools, then, which show a percentage of 
retardation of 52.2, certainly well over half of the children 
fail to complete the eighth grade hefore the age of fifteen. 

In the average American city school, the majority of 
children are retarded hy the time they reach the eighth 
grade or would Ix; did they stay in scho(jl until they 
reached that grade. In Minnesota, a state-wide investiga- 
tion was conducted several years ago by a joint committee 
of school sui)erintendents and ])sychologists. On the basis 
of age and grade distributions, it was concluded that over 
seventy per cent, of the children in the schools considered 
in the committee's report*^ failed to complete the eighth 
grade by the age of fifteen. It is conservative to say 
of schools which show a proportion of retardation as great 
as the average, namely, a proportion of slightly (jver one- 
third, that from fifty to seventy per cent, of the children 
are failing to meet the theoretical cx])ectation that they 
will finish the eighth grade at the age of fi fteen. To attack 
the problem of pedagogical retardation, therefore, is to 
attack the ])roblem of the fifty to seventy per cent, who 
do not fit our present scIkxvI system. 

Causes of Pedagogical Retardation. — Since pedagogi- 
cal retardation means sim])ly a lark of adjustment l)el ween 
the child and the school, we may regard as responsible for 
its causation either the child or the school. The causes 
attrihutable to the school are more easily changed than 
lliose witliin the child. We shall consider first the less 
remediable causes, those resident in the child. Of these, 



' Iscport f)f II1C Joint CnniiniMce, loii. The meml)crs of tlie cam 
miltcc wore StiixTinttMidciils S. F.. Heeler and F. E. Lurtoii, Prin- 
cipal A. C;. GilcUc, anrl Jlcrhcrl Woodrow. 



1^4 PEDAGOGICAL AGE 

those which have boon most carefully investigated are 
sex. health and treedom from physical defects, nationality, 
reL;tilarity oi attendance, intellii^ence and personality. 

As far as sex is concerned, it has been found tiiat girls 
make more regular progress through the grades than boys. 
The lx\vs show ;i larger percentage of repeaters and a 
larger percentage of retardation than the girls, while a 
smaller proportion of boys than girls remain in school to 
the eighth grade/"^ These facts establish the conclusion 
that the school achievements of girls are better than those 
of bc^ys. 1 referred to this matter in the discussion of 
anatomical age. In that connection an explanation was 
otYered. It is simply that the girls develop at a more 
rapid rate, so that as a rtile they are anatomically older 
than the lx\vs of the same chronological ag'e. And their 
greater success in school is fundamentally due to the fact 
that their mental development tends to keep pace with 
their anatomical development. Xo doubt other factors 
come in, particularly in the reasons why girls show a 
smaller percentage of elimination than boys. The girls 
are not subjected to the same economic pressure to leave 
school in order to take a money-earning job. 

The relation of physical defects to intelligence and, 
incidentally, to success in school, has been discussed in a 
previous chapter. All invest ig^ations agree that stich 
defects are important in helping to produce failure in 
school work. In general, those children who fail most 
frequently show the largest numl^er of physical deftnrts, 
and their defects are usually more severe. The child with- 
out physical defects has a slightly greater chance than the 
one with them, of passing through the grades without a 
failure. In certain cases physical defects may be the chief 
cause of pedagogical retardation. This is the case, for 

•Ay res, op. cit., p. 157. 



CAUSES OF PEDAGOGICAL RETARDATION 135 

example, when a child with very bad vision is not pro- 
vided with glasses. On the other hand, regarding retarda- 
tion in general, physical defects are far from being the 
chief factor. This is shown clearly enough by the slight 
difference between retarded children and normal and 
advanced children in the percentage having physical 
defects. 

The nationality factor entails considerable divergence 
of results. Certainly in some localities children of one 
nationality may do better than those of another. Ayres 
concludes from his study of children of different nationali- 
ties in the New York City schools, that children of dif- 
ferent nationalities differ radically as to ability in school 
work. In Minneapolis, w^here there are a large number 
of children of Swedish and Norwegian parentage, as well 
as a fair sprinkling of Bohemian, English, French, Irish, 
Polish and German, nationality appears to be an almost 
negligible factor. A tabulation of the ages and grades 
of two thousand children representing all these nationali- 
ties as well as those who gave their parentage as American, 
showed no reliable difference as regards nationality.^ 
There is even disagreement concerning the importance in 
school success of ability to use the English language. 
Ayres writes that, '' Wherever studies have been made of 
the progress of children through the grades, it has been 
found that ignorance of the English language does not 
constitute a serious handicap." ^^ In support of this con- 
clusion, he cites the experience of the department of edu- 
cation of Porto Rico in changing its schools from the 
Spanish to the English basis. The change, it is alleged, 

*This data was R-athered in the course of a study of the mental 
associations of children. A list of the nationalities represented will 
be found in " Children's Association Frequency Tables," by Woodrow 
and Lowell. Psychological Monographs, No. 97, 1916, pp. 31-32. 
Op. cit., p. 116. 



130 PEDAGOGICAL AGE 

was effected with little or no loss of time on the part of 
the pupils. Ayres' position on this point seems to accord 
with the lindings of tlie majority of investigators, though 
not with all of them. On the whole, the evidence found 
in the schools indicates a speedy assimilation of the foreign 
element, so that, althougli here and there nationality and 
ignorance of English may be a cause of failure in school, 
it is one which in most localities is not ver}' serious, and 
which in the long run will eliminate itself. 

The importance of regular attendance is emphasized 
by all students of pedagogical retardation. It is obvious 
that failure to attend school means failure to l)enefit by 
the instruction given therein. We do not need statistics 
to prove that absence from scliool is an important cause 
of failure and pedagogical retardation: but it is surprising 
what an enormous amount of absence from school the 
statistics prove to exist. An examination of school 
ropi^rts led Ayres to conclude that less than three-fourths 
of the children in our cities continue in attendance as 
much as three-fourths of the school year. Examination 
of school records shows that there is a certain minimum 
number of days of absence, which if exceedevi. nearly 
always results in failure. In the ^linneapolis schools, 
absence of ten to twenty days in a half-year, or even 
twenty to thirty days, may not result in failure, but absence 
totalling more than this is almost sure to do so. Now 
absence of more than thirty days in a half year is quite 
frequent, and since it almost certainly means failure, it is 
clear that a considerable proportion of pedagogical retar- 
dation, perhaps as much as fifteen per cent, can be attrib- 
uted solely to irregular attendance. Of course a much 
larger percentage is due to it in some part. 

Turning now to the factor of the child's intelligence 



CAUSES OF PEDAGOGICAL RETARDATION 137 

and character, we find ourselves facing unquestionably the 
main causes of failure in school, in so far as these causes 
lie within the child. Whether intelligence, as such, or 
certain traits of character more or less separable from 
intelligence are the more important, it is hard to say ; but 
probably intelligence is the fundamental factor. So true 
is it that pedagogical standing is dependent upon intelli- 
gence, that a high correlation between the two is often 
set up as one of the main tests of the soundness of any 
method for the measurement of intelligence.^^ Grade 
standing and intelligence standing by no means run paral- 
lel, partly because of faulty classification of children in 
the grades, and partly because a number of factors other 
than intelligence have a great deal to do with pedagogical 
standing; but there is no single factor that has been 
shown to have anything like as high a correlation with 
pedagogical age as has mental age. 

It is clear that for each grade there is a certain mini- 
mal mental age, which the pupil must reach if he is 
to have a very good chance of success. For example, a 
child of mental age nine has not much chance of passing 
the fifth grade, at least without repeating it. As a reason- 
able minimum he should have a mental age of ten; and 
to have a really good chance of passing he should have 
a mental age of eleven. In general, to have a reasonable 
chance of success in the grade which is normal for his 
age, a child should not be much retarded mentally. His 
mental age should not be much below his chronological. 

A considerable percentage of children have a mental 
age less than their chronological, and so are in danger 
of becoming pedagogically retarded. At first, their mental 
age may not be low enough to fall below the requirements 

" See Chapter II, pp. 33 and 34. 



138 PEDAGOGICAL AGE 

of the grade normal for their age. But, as we have seen, 
the retardation of a mentally retarded child, when meas- 
ured in terms of months or years, increases as the child 
grows older. Consequently, as children grow older a con- 
stantly increasing number must come to have a mental 
age too low for successful work in the grade which corre- 
sponds to their chronological age; and so a constantly 
increasing number will become pedagogically retarded. 
Children who have once failed in a grade because their 
mental age has fallen below the requirements, although 
they may still grow mentally and so in the course of years 
make another grade or two, will tend to fall farther and 
farther behind. Their mental quotient tends to remain 
constant, but their mental retardation, measured in years, 
tends to increase with age. Consequently their pedagogical 
retardation tends to increase until at last they drop out 
of school. 

Concerning the influence of character or personality, 
there exists very little accurate data. On general princi- 
ples there is every reason to suppose that success in school, 
like success in life, depends largely on conscientious 
and persistent application, upon industry and the ability 
for hard work, on the interest and enthusiasm brought 
to bear on the work, and even upon personal manners and 
appearance and ease of speech and action in the presence 
of others. Many of these traits no doubt affect the results 
of our measurements of intelligence, and to such extent as 
they do so, form a part of intelligence. On the other hand, 
they depend considerably upon the individual's emotional 
nature. For example, a child may take a dislike to one 
teacher and be friendly to another. Such factors escape 
any methods so far devised for their measurement. For 
the present, we must rest content with the knowledge 



REMEDIAL MEASURES 139 

that there are a great many emotional characteristics and 
traits of character which are certainly vastly important, 
and to which the teacher and all those interested in the 
child's success must give the greatest consideration. 

Remedial Measures. — Having considered some of the 
main causes of retardation in so far as they consist in 
traits of child nature, we should, logically, proceed to 
point out the causes lying within the school. To recognize 
a cause of retardation in the school, however, means to 
recognize something which should be changed. It is by 
changes in the school that the problem of pedagogical 
retardation must be solved. Child nature can be changed 
but little ; and even this little has to be accomplished mainly 
by changes in education, and so by changes in the school. 
Consequently, instead of an abstract discussion of causes 
of pedagogical retardation in the school, I shall endeavor 
to make my criticism constructive by considering the more 
practical question of the changes that should be made in 
the school in order to meet the situation. Obviously there 
is no need for changing anything which is not to some 
extent a cause of the present unsatisfactory conditions. 

The^roblern of decreasing retardation in the schools is 
merely a part of the more general one of adapting educa- ■ 
tion to the capacities of children. It is a mistake to adopt, 
for the benefit of the child who fails, any measures that 
interfere with the amount of attention given to the brighter 
child, or to make special provision for the failing child 
without at the same time making special provision for 
the exceptionally bright child. To all children, bright or 
dull, the community is under the same obligation — that 
of determining the capacities of each one and developing 
them to the point of greatest possible serviceableness. 

Some persons, perhaps, imbued with the importance 



140 PEDAGOGICAL AGE 

of paying more attention to the superior children might 
ask, " Why bother at all about failure? Why not simply 
have the child who fails take the work of the grade over 
and over until he passes it? After all, is this child not 
receiving as high an education as his intelligence and zeal 
will permit? " It is true that, in many cases, the child is 
receiving about all the education he can digest of the sort 
offered. The point to be kept in mind, however, is that 
"^^7//t' failing child is not receiving the rigJit kind of edu- 
cation. The real question is whether these children who 
/fail should not be offered work dift'erent in kind and 
/ taught by different methods, in which they would not fail 
' — in short, work to whicli they are better adapted. 

A chihVs failure to pass is merely a failure on the part 
of the educational procedure used to produce the expected 
restdt. Each failure constitutes a demand for education 
along new lines. Education must avoid doing the spiritual 
injury of branding the child a failure. Instead, it must 
cultivate the spirit of initiative and self-reliance, and the 
satisfaction and desire for further achievement which 
result ivom progress and the taste of success. The edu- 
cation that breeds these qualities will be the one which 
develops those capacities that the child does ])ossess, which 
finds some work in whicli the child will not fail and which, 
by training in this Avork, guides the child into a life of 
nia:ximal usefuliiess. 

The problem of changing the existing system in any 
city so as better to meet the needs of the children is 
always an exceetlingiy complex one, even aside from 
questions of expense. It is hard to name any one change 
that of itself will produce much improvement. A change 
in any one respect usually calls for other changes, upon 
which it depends for its success or failure. 



REMEDIAL MEASURES 141 

Of all the measures that could be suggested, none lies 
so close at hand as a simplification of the curriculum. 
By simplification is meant a reduction in the amount of 
work that all the children, exclusive of the feeble-minded, 
are expected to take in common. Simplification is accom- 
plished by a stricter interpretation of what are the essen- 
tials, and a strict limitation of the common program to 
these essentials. 

Does simplification mean lowering of standards? If 
it does, it will do no good ; for while it may produce less 
failure, it will bring about more holding back of the bright 
pupils. A radically simplified curriculum should not, 
however, result in a lowering of standards. Its very 
meagreness should serve to emphasize the fact that addi- 
tional work is essential. It allows more time to be devoted 
to this additional work, and more adaptation of this work 
to the individual needs of the pupils. The simpler the 
program for all pupils in common, the easier it is to make 
clear the necessity and to provide the time and facilities 
for additional individual work. The individual work 
for the intellectually less able pupils should be in the line 
of practical occupations, such as manual training, sew- 
ing and gardening; for the more able it should consist 
of more intensive work along the same lines as the com- 
mon program, as well as of additional academic subjects 
and additional practical or occupational subjects. Prop- 
erly interpreting its advocates, then, simplification does not 
mean less work for anybody. Primarily it means simply 
different work for the less able and the more able chil- 
dren of each grade with a consequent reduction in the 
amount of work in common. 

Changes in the direction of simplification should be 
accompanied by a more just and accurate system of grading 



142 PEDAGOGICAL AGE 

pupils. Great progress li.'is Incn made in recent years by 
(loinj;- away with the old lock-slc]) sysleni and installing a 
syslnn of rates of jirogress wliich vary to suit the pupils 
h'ornKMly, in a vast majority of our towns and cities, a 
child who failed in one or two subjects had to repeat the 
entire year's work. Nowadays, it is common to divide the 
years' work into at least two vScmesters. Many recom- 
mend the further step of grading and j)r()moting the 
children separately in each subject, after the manner of 
hii;h schools, C()lU\i;cs and universities, lulucational 
measm-emenls have shown that even under the present 
grade system the averai;e child is often so much more 
capable in, some subjects than in others, that he really 
bclouj^s in dilTercnt grades in different subjects. For 
example, a fifth grade child, when tested by the modern 
mcasming scales,'" may be found below the fourth grade 
averai;e in handwriting, and at the same lime above the 
sixth i^rade average in composition. Why, then, should 
such a. child not be taking writing with fourth-grade pupils 
and composition with sixth grade ])upils? It is already 
customary to jirovide si)ecial teachers and special classes 
in drawing, sini;ing, writing, cooking, sewing and manual 
training. Trogress appears to lie in the direction of fur- 
ther organization of instruction by subjects, particularly 
in the upper grades. 

Coupled with the tendency towards greater accuracy in 
grading, is the tendency towards the multiplication of 
special classes and ])ara11cl courses. There has been a strik- 
ing increase in the number of auxiliary classes for feeble- 
minded children. There has also been a movement for 

" For description of these scales, see Starch. " Educational Meas- 
lu-cnioiils." 1016; Monroe and others, "Educational Tests and Meas- 
ureinents." i<)i7; and Chapman and Rush, "The Scientific Measure- 
ment of Classroom rrocUu-ts," 1017. 



REMEDIAL MI^ASURES 143 

the provision, in the nppcr ^nidcs, of special classes for 
exceptionally bright children, and also for the j)rovision of 
classes for pedagogically retarded children, usually 
children, who are dull or backward. Further, the need 
for parallel courses is more and more being recognized. 
In some cases, these parallel courses are simply devices 
which permit different pupils to cover the same work in 
different i)erio(ls of time. For example, the work of the 
last five grades may be divided into two halves, and the 
grades arranged so that each half may be taken by the 
brighter children in two years, and by the slower ones in 
three years. More commonly, however, the parallel 
courses differ in character. One course usually sticks 
close to the traditional program, whereas the other 
is mainly industrial and vocational in nature and appeals 
mainly to those who are to enter commercial or industrial 
work upon reaching the age limit of compulsory attend- 
ance. These industrial and commercial courses, it is 
claimed, arc very valuable in preventing the early elimina- 
tion of retarded children. In farming districts, courses 
in preparation for agricultural life are also of great value, 
and often fit children with whom the traditional cur- 
riculum fails. 

So far we have discussed mainly changes in curriculum 
and school organization as being necessary to co[)e with, 
the evils of ])edagogical retardation. There are other 
administrative measures, however, that are im])ortrnit and 
that aim directly at two of the causes of failure which have 
been attributed to the child rather than the school. One 
of these causes is bad physical condition; the other, poor 
attendance. 

Irregular attendance, experience shows, can be suc- 
cessfully combated. The main things necessary are an 



144 PEDAGOGICAL AGE 

accurate, annual, school census, that is, a census of all 
children in the community who are of school age, and an 
efficient enforcing of the truant laws by the truant officers. 
That there has been marked improvement in school attend- 
ance in recent years is indicated by the great reduction in 
illiteracy. In 1900, of all children in the United States 
from 10 to 14 years of age, there were 42 in every 1000 
who could neither read nor write. In 19 10, there were 
only 22 per 1000. In all probability the federal census 
of 1920 will show a still further reduction in the percent- 
age of illiterates. 

To the physical condition of children, there is no doubt 
that there should be paid even greater attention than at 
present. In many rural communities conditions are little 
short of scandalous. The whole movement towards spec- 
ialized forms of training to meet the special needs of 
pupils must be accompanied by a greater concern in this 
matter. It must lead to more care for the heating, venti- 
lating and cleanliness of school buildings; also to 
systematic courses in physical culture and drill as well 
as to supervised play ; and to the universal adoption of a 
system of medical inspection by which the physical ail- 
ments and abnormalities, that hinder health and happiness 
as well as school progress, shall not only be detected and 
reported, but corrected. 

It should be noted, however, that better physical care, 
like better methods of teaching, will help the children who 
are above grade as well as those who are below grade, 
since the latter are only slightly more defective physically 
than the former. This, of course, is a greater reason for 
doing all that is possible ; but it follows that the problem 
of meeting the needs of children of different degrees of 
ability will by no means be solved simply by better atten- 



REMEDIAL MEASURES 145 

tion to the physical side. If it enables a larger number 
of pupils to keep up to grade it will at the same time 
increase the number who should be above grade, and 
therefore make the problem of proper provision for the 
abler children more acute. If better health will enable 
a dull child to succeed with the present curriculum, it 
will enable a superior child to do more than to succeed 
with that same curriculum ; and to hold the superior child 
down to a course that is too easy for him is as great a 
mistake as to give a dull child a course of study that fails 
because it is too hard. The same considerations apply here 
as to improved methods of teaching. If better teaching 
can enable a pedagogically retarded child to come up to 
grade, what can it not do' for the normal or pedagogic- 
ally advanced child ? 

Whenever a child's actual attainments are normal or 
above normal, and yet lag behind his possible attainments, 
there exists what we may term invisible retardation. Bet- 
ter care of health and better teaching technique, both of 
which are imperative, may help to reduce the amount of 
pedagogical retardation, but they will not go far in solving 
the general problem of adaptation of education to the 
needs of the child, simply because to very nearly the same 
extent that they alleviate pedagogical retardation they 
aggravate what we have called invisible retardation. And 
invisible retardation of an able child is fully as serious 
as the more apparent retardation of the child who is 
below grade. 

The preceding discussion should make it clear that the 
problems arising from the facts of pedagogical age are 
problems of school administration. Failure should be 
thought of not as failure on the part of the child, but as 
failure of school authorities to provide the proper educa- 
10 



146 PEDAGOGICAL AGE 

tion. Pedagogical retardation, visible or invisible, means 
faulty administration. The problem is not the bringing of 
retarded children "up to grade." It is much broader 
and deeper tlian that. It is providing for each cliild that 
\ education which is best suited to him. This plainly 
^requires first of all a diagnosis of the child's abilities. 
The efficiency of the school system depends on the degree 
to which the educational results agree with the diagnosis 
of mental ability. With a child of little mental ability, suc- 
cessful education means training for very humble occu- 
pations. With a child of exceptional mental ability, 
successful education means, not getting the child through 
eight grades in eight years or even in six years, but 
preparing him to be a leader in society. 



CHAPTER VIII 
SIMPLE MENTAL PROCESSES 

Intelligent Behavior and Mind. — Intelligence shows 
itself only in behavior; behavior is everything that an indi- 
vidual does. It includes all the activities of a child as he 
takes the Binet intelligence tests. It includes going to 
school, reading and writing, crying and laughing, and 
answering questions in geography and solving problems in 
arithmetic. Later in life it includes earning a living, by 
the conduct of a business, by teaching, or by the perform- 
ance of some other service; it includes getting married, 
keeping house, rearing children and providing for their 
future; it may mean fighting and the conduct of war, the 
research that leads to new inventions, and acts of charity 
and of worship. Behavior is the sum total of life's activi- 
ties; and it is by these activities that intelligence must 
be judged. 

As to the type of behavior which may be labelled 
intelHgent, I believe it is impossible to be more definite 
than to say that intelligent behavior is successful behavior. 
** The essential characteristic of all intelligent action," 
writes Kirkpatrick, " is, from the objective point of view, 
that it shall be adapted to the securing of useful ends." ^ 
Useful or successful behavior is behavior which benefits 
the individual and the society to which he belongs. It 
may be objected that there are many widely different 
conceptions of what is good, and consequently many dif- 
ferent standards of success. But to just the extent to 

^ " Genetic Psychology," 1908, p. 178. 

147 



148 SIMPLE MENTAL PROCESSES 

which this is true, there must be different types and 
standards of intelhgence. However, for certain practical 
purposes it is possible within limits to agree upon what 
is to be regarded as success, particularly in the case of 
cliildren. This is the less difficult, as intelligence means 
not the capacity for success along any one line of endeavor, 
but general capacity, the capacity which determines 
whether one individual would, on the average, do better 
than another in any and all performances in which he 
might conceivably be tested. Thus, a man might be 
eminently successful as a billiard player, or even as a 
musician, and yet not be above average in intelligence. 
Success in these special lines indicates special talents ; but 
whether their possessor is to be rated as above average 
in intelligence depends upon whether he could succeed 
in the majority of all desirable lines of performance better 
than the ordinary individual. 

Now, while the evidence of intelligence must consist 
always in behavior, the kind of behavior which is regarded 
as intelligent cannot occur except by the aid of mind. 
Highly intelligent conduct requires thought and attention, 
discrimination, judgment and reason. It is as impossible 
to be highly intelligent without a good mind as to have 
a good mind and remain unintelligent. Indeed, one may 
go so far as to say that successful performances should 
not be regarded as acts of intelligence unless their success 
is due to mental processes. When it is the result of luck, 
or physical strength, or good health, success is not a sign 
of intelligence. To be accepted as proof of the latter, it 
must show some signs of mental action, that is, some signs 
of learning, of profit from experience, and of wisdom. 
Intelligence, then, is the capacity for success in life in so 
far as success is gained by the use of mind. 



INTELLIGENT BEHAVIOR AND MIND 149 

Since intelligence means the capacity for success in 
those tasks which require mental activity for their exe- 
cution, our next question is concerned with the nature of 
this mental activity. Is it possible to find some one mental 
process, some characteristic mental activity, upon which 
success depends? A number of psychologists have sought 
such, a fundamental process, but the diversity of their find- 
ings indicates that no one aspect of mind can be singled 
out as the essence of intelligence. 

Nearly every important phase of mental activity has 
been identified with intelligence. Thus, for Ebbinghaus, 
the main constituent of intellectual ability is the combin- 
ing activity of the mind — that is, the power to unify into 
meaningful wholes the haphazard and independent items 
of experience. For many, including Wundt,^ one of the 
most famous of all psychologists, the process most indis- 
pensable to the manifestation of intelligence is attention. 
It is on the basis of this power of attention, or concentra- 
tion, that Sollier defines the various grades of feeble- 
mindedness.^ With Binet, intelligence is largely a matter 
of sound judgment. At the same time, he Hnks it closely 
with the power of voluntary attention, by which he means 
the power to apply intensely one's mental faculties to the 
new situations with which he is constantly confronted.^ 
Stern defines intelligence as the capacity of an individual 
" to adjust his thinking to new requirements." ^ The 

' " Elemente der Physiologischen Psychologic/' 6th ed., 1908, 
vol. i, pp. 378-386. 

^ " Psychologic de I'idiot et de rimbecile," pp. 36-37 and 60-74. 
See also Consoni, " La mesure de Tattention chez les enfants faibles 
d'esprit." Archives de psychologie, vol. ii, 1903, p. 250. 

^"Attention et adaptation." L'annee psychologique, vol. vi, 1899, 
pp. 393-395. 

^"The Psjxhological Methods of Testing Intelligence." Trans, 
by G. M. Whipple, 1913', p. 3. 



ISO. SIMPLE MENTAL PROCESSES 

processes of judgment and of thought emphasized by Binet 
and Stem are merely aspects of reasoning abihty. This 
ability more than any other, perhaps, is accredited with 
first importance. According to Tredgold, it is defective 
reasoning that constitutes the chief characteristic of feeble- 
mindedness. Another capacity frequently emphasized, 
which does not differ much from attention, is the capacity 
for persistent effort, the capacity for steadfastly pur- 
suing a fixed purpose. 

Plainly it is impossible to find any one mental process 
that can be identified with intelligence. It is true, that 
certain mental functions, such as attention and reasoning, 
are more closely related to intelligence than others. It 
must be remembered, however, that the mind, like the 
body, functions to a large extent as a single organism, 
and that the more important mental processes involve all 
the others. For example, in the case of reasoning, it is 
clear that one's ability depends upon his knowledge; his 
knowledge in turn is dependent upon his perceptions and 
his memory, and also upon his power of attention and his 
interests. Again, in the case of sensory discrimination, it 
is impossible to distinguish between acuteness of the 
senses and keenness of attention. We cannot test visual 
acuity, for example, without testing attention ; for a per- 
son totally inattentive to visual impressions would to all 
intents and purposes be just as blind as one whose 
lenses were opaque. It is thus very difficult to state 
with precision the relative importance of the various 
mental processes. All mental processes influence behavior, 
although they do not have equal weight. Their part in 
intelligence is proportionate to their importance in secur- 
ing a successful adjustment to the problems of life. 

It is important to study the contribution of even the 



MEASURING SENSORY CAPACITY 151 

simpler mental processes towards intelligent behavior. To 
these processes the remainder of this chapter is devoted. 
Ill the following one, two very fundamental processes, as- 
sociation and attention, are to be considered; the next 
takes up some of the more complex mental operations. 
The simpler mental capacities are : Sensory capacity, that 
is, the capacity for receiving sensations and discriminating 
between them; perception, or the observation of external 
objects; the capacity for imagery; and the capacity for 
feelings of pleasantness and unpleasantness. 

Methods of Measuring Sensory Capacity and Estimat- 
ing Its Relation to Intelligence. — In estimating an 
individual's sensory capacity, it is customary to use 
measurements of the smallest discoverable difference 
between two stimuli acting on the same sense organ. 
Thus, one test is given to determine the smallest percep- 
tible difference in the loudness of two sounds; another, 
to ascertain the smallest perceptible difference in their 
pitch. In the case of vision, the smallest noticeable differ- 
ence in brightness between two grays may be determined, 
or in the tone, or hue, of two colors. The accuracy of 
spatial discrimination is also studied, as in the visual 
acuity test, already described, or in tests of ability to 
discriminate length. To measure the fineness of the sense 
of touch, it is common to use the smallest distance which 
may separate two compass points applied to the skin and 
yet permit of their being recognized as two. This distance 
is known as the threshold for the discrimination of two 
points. Another test is the measurement of the smallest 
noticeable difference between two weights, and still 
another in the amount of pressure required on the skin 
to produce a sensation of pain. All of these sensory tests 
have been used in the study of the relation of sensory 



152 SIMPLE MENTAL PROCESSES 

discrimination to intelligence, a relation which, because 
of its bearing upon sense training as well as many other 
problems, has been the object of a long series of experi- 
mental investigations and of much discussion. 

In such investigations, intelligence has usually been 
graded by taking the average score in a large number of 
mental tests, or by the average of school marks, or by 
estimates of intelligence on the part of teachers or others, 
or by several of these methods combined. The procedures 
employed in the measurement of the fineness of sensory 
discrimination have varied greatly, but on the whole, they 
have been fairly accurate.^ 

In order to measure the closeness of relationship 
between the capacity of sensory discrimination and intelli- 
gence, it is necessary to obtain measures of each, for a 
large number of individuals, preferably of the same age 
and sex. These measures are arranged in two columns, 
each number in a column representing the sensory capacity 
of one individual, and a corresponding number in the 
other column, his intelligence. To ascertain the relation- 
ship between sensory capacity and intelligence, then, it is 
necessary merely to determine the extent to which the 
numbers of one column rise or fall in harmony with those 
corresponding in the other column. This is accomplished 
by means of a mathematical formula, which works out 
in such a way that if the numbers of one column run 
perfectly parallel with those of the other, a correlation 
of one hundred per cent, is obtained, whereas if there 
is no relationship between the two columns of numbers a 
correlation of zero will be obtained. 

" For a detailed account of methods of testing sensory discrimi- 
nation, see Whipple, " Manual of Mental and Physical Tests," 2d ed., 
1914, part i, pp. 161-261. 



MEASURING SENSORY CAPACITY 153 

Any correlational percentage above zero and less than 
a hundred means that there is some correspondence 
between the two traits measured, but not a perfect one. 
For example, consider the relationship between the ability 
to add and the ability to multiply. Let us suppose that 
we have secured, by the aid of addition and multiplication 
tests, two rankings of all the pupils of a class, one ranking 
arranging them in the order of their ability in addition, 
from the best to the worst, and the other arranging them 
in the order of their ability in multiplication. If the 
place of a child in one list was, as a rule, quite different 
from that which he occupied in the other, so that the two 
lists showed no more correspondence than would two lists 
made by drawing the names out of a hat, then the correla- 
tion between the two abilities would be zero. On the other 
hand, if the standing of the children in one list resembled 
their standing in the other list, we could say that there ex- 
isted a correlation between the ability to addand the ability 
to multiply. The closer the resemblance in the standings 
of the children in the two lists, the higher the percentage 
of correlation. Were the standings in the two lists identi- 
cal, the correlation would) be perfect, or one hundred per 
cent. Lastly, and simply for the sake of illustration, 
should we find that the higher a child's rank in one list the 
lower it was in the other, we would say that the correlation 
was negative. Negative correlations, like positive, may 
vary all the way from zero to one hundred per cent. 

Whenever the correlational percentage is less than one 
hundred, it indicates that the two traits considered are in 
part influenced by the same factors, but that, on the other 
hand, each of them is to some extent determined by factors 
which affect it alone. For example, to take a non-psycho- 



154 SIMPLE MENTAL PROCESSES 

logical illustration, we should find if we tabulated the 
price of corn and the price of pork throughout a number 
of years, a certain degree of correspondence or correlation, 
between the two. The price of one would tend to fall and 
rise with the price of the other. The correlation, how- 
ever, would be far from perfect, because, although to 
some extent the price of com and that of pork are deter- 
mined by the same factors, each is affected in part by 
certain factors which do not disturb the other. 

The Relation of Sensory Capacity to Intelligence— 
This outline of methods leads us to the consideration of 
results. The early investigations of Krueger and Spear- 
man"^ indicated that the correlation between sensory 
discrimination and intelligence was rather high. This 
accorded well with the emphasis so often given to sense 
training in the education of younger school children. 
Some of the theoretical conclusions of Krueger and 
Spearman, however, led to an investigation by Thorndike 
and some of his pupils.^ The sensory traits tested were 
accuracy in estimating the length of lines, as indicated by 
the capacity to draw them equaHnJength to a standard, 
and accuracy in estimating weight, as shown by the capa- 
city to reproduce a standard weight by filling a box with 
the necessary quantity of shot. As measures of the intelli- 
gence of the subjects, who were high school and normal 
school students, teachers' estimates of intelligence were 
used, along with the estimates of the intelligence of each 
other made by the students, and the average of their school 

' " Die Korrelation zwischen verschiedenen geistigen Leistungs- 
Fahigkeiten." Zeitschrift fur Psychologie und Physiologic der Sinnes- 
organe, vol. xliv, 1907, pp. 50-114. Also Spearman, "General Intelli- 
gence." American Journal of Psychology, vol. xv, 1904, pp. 201-293. 

' Thorndike, Lay and Dean, " The Relation of Accuracy in Sen- 
sory Discrimination to General Intelligence." American Journal of 
Psychology, vol. xx, 1909, pp. 3*^-369. 



SENSORY CAPACITY AND INTELLIGENCE 155 

marks. The correlations between these rather crude meas- 
ures were much smaller than those of Krueger and 
Spearman, though still sufficient to indicate some slight 
degree of correlation between sensory discrimination and 
intelligence. Thus, for normal school girls, between esti- 
mates of length and teachers' estimates of intelligence, 
there was only twelve per cent, of correlation; between 
accuracy of weight estimation and intelligence as judged 
by teachers, no more than eight per cent. ; and between 
accuracy of weight estimation and intelligence of the girls 
as judged by each other, twenty- four per cent. 

Later investigators have tended to confirm the results 
of Thomdike rather than those of Spearman, on this 
point, in that they find but very small connection between 
sensory keenness and intelligence. Indeed, there seems 
to be no relation between intelligence and either the ability 
to notice small differences in weight or the ability to recog- 
nize as two, when applied to the skin, two points separated 
by a very short distance. Definite relationships appear to 
be established, however, for the so-called higher senses — 
those of vision and hearing. 

A very interesting study of the relation of sensory 
discrimination to intelligence has been made by Burt.^ 
His investigations were conducted among groups chosen 
from two schools of Oxford, England, one a superior 
elementary school and the other a high class preparatory 
school. Both groups were composed exclusively of boys 
ranging in age from twelve and a half to thirteen and a 
half years. As a measure of intelligence, Burt used 
the ranking of the boys by the Head-master. No assump- 
tions were made as to the particular kind of capacity that 

' " Experimental Tests of General Intelligence." British Journal 
of Psychology, vol. iii, 1909, pp. 94-177. 



156 SIMPLE MENTAL PROCESSES 

should be called intelligence. This was left to the scliool- 
niaster. " It was presumed," writes Burt, '' that tlie 
schoolmaster was the proper person, if any, to know the 
original meaning of intelligence, to recognize it in the 
concrete, and compare its various degrees, even though 
the psychologist might prove the proper person subse- 
quently to find for that meaning adequate expression, 
and to analyze and describe in technical terminology, the 
nature of the capacity denoted by it." ^^^ 

In view of Burt's confidence in the schoolmaster s esti- 
mates of intelligence, it is interesting to note the methods 
by which these estimates were made. In the elementary 
school, since the Ix^ys were in three different school grades, 
or standards, as they are called in England, the Head- 
master made three lists, based on tlie class marks, one for 
the boys of each standard; tliese three lists he connected 
by carefully dove-tailing the bottom boys of the upper 
standards with the top boys of the lower standard. He 
then thoroughly scrutinized the order, and further rear- 
ranged it from his private knowledge of the boys, wnth 
each of whom he was familiar. After an interval of 
several wTcks, during which he frequently took lessons 
with the standards in question, he revised the list. When 
in doubt as to the relative position of tw^o boys, his test- 
question w^as : " Which boy is the quickest at seeing the 
point of anything? " From his reputation as a judge of 
character, from his long personal experience of the boys 
concerned, and from the special interest, care and con- 
scientiousness with which he perfonned the task, there 
can be little doubt that the grading is as nearly perfect 
as a grading based on personal impression can be. 

In the preparatory school the Head-master used a 

'" Op. cit., p. 105. 



SENSORY CAPACITY AND INTELLIGENCE 157 

somewhat different method. On the basis of class marks 
he produced two Hsts, in one of which the boys were ranked 
in the order of Hterary abihty, and in the other in order 
of mathematical ability. From a fusion of these he 
derived a final order of general intelligence. 

The sensory tests used by Burt were four in number. 
One was a test of touch discrimination, consisting in the 
determination of the threshold for the discrimination of 
two points; that is, of the smallest distance apart at which 
two simultaneously applied points yield a double sensation. 
A second tested weight discrimination, that is, the dis- 
covery of the smallest noticeable difference in a weight 
of 100 grams. Sound discrimination was tested by 
determination of the smallest perceptible difference 
between two pitches. The fourth test, by determining the 
accuracy with which a standard line of ten centimetres 
could be reproduced, demonstrated ability to discriminate 
length of lines. The tests were repeated several times, 
and in general were carefully applied. The percentages 
of correlation between these sensory tests and intelli- 
gence, as estimated by the Head-master, are given in the 
following table : 

CORRELATION BETWEEN INTELLIGENCE AND SENSORY KEENNESS 

Elementary Preparatory 

Bchool School Average 

Intelligence and touch discrimination 17 

Intelligence and weight discrimination.. -.01 

Intelligence and pitch discrimination 52 

Intelligence and length discrimination... .51 

^ It v^ill be noted that touch sensitivity shows no rela- 
tion to intelligence, and that the capacity for weight 
discrimination bears a negative, or inverse, relation to 
intelligence ; pitch and length discrimination, on the other 
hand, have a considerable positive relation. J 



-.17 


.00 


-.20 


-.10 


•41 


.46 


.44 


.47 



158 SIMPLE MENTAL PROCESSES 

Burt's results have been corroborated by other investi- 
gators. Thus, Carey/ ^ who used several tests for each 
of the capacities of tactile, auditory and visual discrimi- 
nation, found that the correlation between '' practical " 
intelligence, as estimated by teachers, and tactile dis- 
crimination tests was slightly negative, whereas the 
correlation for discrimination of yellows — one of his 
visual tests — was twenty-three per cent., and for discrimi- 
nation of pitches — an auditory test — twenty- four per cent. 

Binet confirms Burt's notation of the inverse rela- 
tionship between intelligence and the ability to discriminate 
between lifted weights. He observes that imbeciles have 
an amazingly keen power of weight discrimination. 

Definitely positive correlations have been found also 
between intelligence and sensitivity to pain,^- as meas- 
ured by the amount of pressure on the ball of the thumb 
required to produce slight pain. Binet writes that " the 
threshold of sensibility to pain in the most intelligent 
pupils is lower than in the least intelligent ; in other words, 
to provoke in them a minimum of pain requires a slighter 
pressure." '' This finding," he continues, " compared 
with that which we have made upon our imbeciles, clearly 
shows that sensibility to pain develops with the intelli- 
gence ; by pain we must here understand not only a sensa- 
tion localized and appreciated in its intensity, but also 
all the psychic reverberations of this pain, the ideas and 

" " Factors in the Mental Processes of School Children." British 
Journal of Psychology, vol. viii, 191 5, pp. 86 and 88. See also Abel- 
son, " Mental Ability of Backward Children." British Journal of 
Psychology, vol. iv, 191 1, p. 303. 

" Binet and Simon, " L'intelligence des imbeciles," Vannie psy- 
chotogique, vol. xv, 1909, pp. 52-58; Carman, "Pain and Strength 
Measurements of 1507 School Children in Saginaw, Michigan," 
American Journal of Psychology, vol. x, 1899, pp. 392-398; and Swift, 
" Sensibility to vPain," American Journal of Psychology, vol. xi, 1900, 
pp. 312-317. 



PRIMITIVE AND ADVANCED RACES 159 

emotions it provokes, which increase it like an avalanche. 
In truth the highest intelligences have more merit in being 
courageous than grosser natures ; they are in fact braver, 
though not by absence of fear, nor by obtuseness of 
the sensibilities, but by domination over a delicate 
sensibility." ^^ 

In general, then, correlation between intelligence and 
ability to make fine sensory discriminations is slight. 
The exact degree of correlation, even in the case of any 
one sense, will depend upon the exact kind of discrimina- 
tion tested. Thus, discrimination of color tones manifests 
a higher correlation with intelligence than does visual 
acuity. In general, however, keenness of vision, hearing 
and sensitivity to pain are valuable assets, because such 
sensitivity, and the capacity for discrimination of color 
tones, lengths of lines and tone pitches show fairly definite, 
though low, correlations with intelligence. On the other 
hand, the capacities for fine tactile discriminations and 
for fine discriminations between lifted weights display 
either no correlation or an inverse correlation with intelli- 
gence. Therefore, practically no relation exists between 
capacity for fine weight and tactile discriminations and 
capacity for general success. 

Comparison of the Senses of Primitive and Advanced 
Races. — However, the ability to make fine weight dis- 
criminations is not an undesirable capacity. This fact 
makes the negative correlation with intelligence an exceed- 
ingly interesting problem, for in general, desirable mental 
traits show a positive correlation with intelligence and 
with each other. The explanation is no doubt to be sought 
in man's evolutionary history. Thus it may be supposed 

" " The Intelligence of the Feeble-Minded," by Binet and Simon. 
Translation by Elizabeth S. Kite, 1916, p. 65. 



i6q simple mental PROCESSES 

that at one v^ta^c oi evolution this cajvacily, like the capa- 
city for hne smell discriminations in the dov;, was of great 
service. It may not have been exactly the capacity for 
makini;- Inie \veii;ht discriminations, but some capacity 
inseparably connected therewith, possibly some muscular 
or motor capacity. At this staj^e in evolution a positive 
correlation must have existed between capacity for weii^ht 
tliscrimination and intellii;"ence. Then the direction ol 
evolution changed. Man came to live a life in which an 
exceptional deveU^pment of this capacity tlid not particu- 
larly helj) those pi^ssessing- it to vSurvive in the strui^gle {ov 
existence. h>i>lution consisted in the development of 
other capacities. 

Any capacity no loni;er important in the maintenance 
of the species would have no giiarantee of i)reservation. 
Individuals possessing- it in a low degree had the same 
chance to survive as those possessing it in a high degree. 
Such a cajxicity, consequently, deterioratetl. while! other 
ones, more related to intelligence, were becoming per- 
fected. It might thus happen that those capacities, such 
as weight discrimination and tactile discrimination, which 
show no positive cori\^lation witJi intelligence in the 
advanced civilized races, came to be capacities in which the 
more intelligent individuals were often surpassed by the 
less intelligent, and the highly developed races by the more 
primitive, savage ones. 

That savages may excel the more intelligent races in 
thc^se traits which are not defmitcly correlated with intelli- 
gence in the white man is not merely a theoretical 
ciMichision. It is a fact demonstrated by numerous 
observati(Mis. among the most remarkable of which are 
those made by the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition 
to Torres Straits. These straits, lying l^tween British 



PRIMITIVE AND ADVANCED RACES i6i 

New Guinea and Australia, are inhabited by i'apuans. 
The distinguished Engh'sh psychologists who took part in 
the expedition set up a small psychological laboratory in 
a deserted missionary house on Murray Island, where 
for four months they conducted a num1x:r of tests among 
the natives. The i;>eople were sufficiently civilized to 
cooperate with the psychologists, although they were 
very primitive — nrjt far removed, indeed, from complete 
savagery, the first civilized teacher having landed on the 
island as late as 1871. 

In touch and weight discrimination the primitive 
Papuans were found superior to Englishmen. In the skin 
areas tested, the Murray Islanders had a threshold of tac- 
tile discrimination of which the value, in terms of distance 
l/ctwcen the two points touched, was just about one-half 
that of Englishmen. In other words, their power of 
tactile discrimination was alxjut double that of TLnglish- 
men. A somewhat similar^ though less striking, result, 
was obtained in the case of discrimination of weight; the 
Murray Islanders could distinguish a difference of 3.2 per 
cent., whereas thirty Englishmen tested in the same man- 
ner could discriminate only a difference of 3.9 per cent. 
" The power of discrimination of small differences in 
weight," writes McDougall, the memljer of the expedi- 
tion who made these tests, "apjxjars therefore to be 
rather more delicate in the Murray Islanders than in 
Englishmen." ^* 

Pitch discrimination, on the contrary, which has \)Qtn 
found to correlate positively with intelligence in white 
people, was markedly superior in the Englishmen. Myers, 
using a standard tuning-fork of 256 vibrations, found 

""Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to 
Torres Straits," vol. ii, part ii, 1903, p. io>8. 
II 



i62 SIMPLE MENTAL PROCESSES 

the barely perceptible difference in pitch for Murray 
Island children to average 12.5 vibrations, whereas for 
Scotch children of Aberdeenshire he found an average 
as low as 4.7 vibrations.^ ^ The pitch discrimination of 
the Scotch children was tlierefore better by eight vibra- 
tions than that of the Murray Island children. The ability 
of savages to hear at a distance the ticking of a watch was 
also inferior. Likewise, the sense of pain, keenness of 
which correlates wdth intelligence, was dull in the Papuans 
and keen in the white races. But the Papuans were not 
more lacking in sensitiveness to pain and acuteness of 
hearing than the Filipinos, the Patagonians, Africans, the 
Ainu and other supposedly primitive races.^^ 

Perception. — Passing now to the consideration of 
other mental capacities, we may inquire whether the 
capacities for perception, imagery and feeling are more 
closely identified with intelligence than is the capacity for 
sensory discrimination. It must be answered that on 
these functions the data are too meagre to justify very 
definite conclusions; but they indicate, at least, that the 
correlation existing between intelligence and perceptions 
and imagery is no higher than for sensory discrimination. 

Tests involving the essential part of the perception 
process have not as yet been employed. The important 
thing about a perception is that the impression derived 
from any object should immediately revive, and unite 
with, the proper associates. Thus, the sound made by 
an object as it moves or as it is dropped, should revive 
its visual appearance, its feel to the touch, and its name. 

"Op. cit., p. 168. The results quoted were those obtained at the 
children's second sitting. 

" See Woodworth, " Racial Differences in Mental Traits," 
Science, vol. xxxi, 1910. pp. 171-186; and Bruner, "The Hearing of 
Primitive Peoples," Archives of Psychology, No. 11, 1908. 



PERCEPTION 163 

To test the accuracy of the perceptual processes, then, it 
seems necessary to use tests in which objects are pre- 
sented to one sense, but the judgments required are 
based on the associated impressions derived through other 
senses. For example, a number of objects might be placed 
before a child, such as an axe, a dish-pan, a roll of cotton, 
and a base-ball. Then without touching them, he should 
be asked to indicate the heaviest, the next heaviest, and 
so on down to the lightest — the experimenter arranging 
them in the order indicated. Again, one may show a child 
a number of carefully chosen, familiar objects, then have 
him close his eyes, and name them merely from the sound 
they make as they are dropped upon the table. These 
tests resemble the game of guessing the name of a person 
caught by one who is blindfolded. A great variety might 
be devised. How they would correlate with measures of 
intelligence it is impossible to say, as the necessary in- 
vestigations have not been made.^*^ 

Tests of perception so far performed show that in 
certain aspects, at least, perception correlates but slightly 
with intelligence. Illustrative results have been obtained 
with the cancellation test. 

The cancellation test consists of a number of lines 
of letters printed in capital letters. The letters are equally 
spaced and arranged In a miscellaneous, meaningless 
order. The subject tested takes a pencil and, running 
along the letters as In reading, makes a line through a 
designated letter every time he meets with it. Because 
some of the letters that should be marked may be omitted, 
and others may be marked by mistake, there are various 

"Tests of this sort are now being used successfully by Dr. 
Frances Lowell, of the University of Minnesota, as one of a number 
of group intelligence tests. 



x64 SlMTLi: MI:N TAL TROCKSSKS 

\YaYS of scoriui; tho tost other than bv takiui;- simply 
the numlHM' of Uitors oorrootly canoollod in tho allottod 
poriod. Tho rosnU doponds vory much on \\hotl\or tho 
test is i^ravlovl simply for speed, for aeenraey. or for Ixnh. 
As n\ii;ht Iv expeeted. there is a tendeney for those who 
work fast to Iv less aeenrate than those who work slowly. 
and there appears, tnrther. to Iv a teiuleney on tho part 
of the brii;hter ehiUlren to seek aeenraey rather tlian 
speed. When the test is i;raded i\m- speovl. it is likely to 
give a negative eorrelation with intolliiivnee. I i;':ive 
this test to one hnndred Minneapolis ten-year-old sehot^l 
children whoso intelligenee had Iven nieasnvod by 
Tennan's ivvision ot the r>inet-Sinion seale. Grading;- 
for speed onlv. I fonnd a nei;ative eorrelation with intelli- 
genee of -.tc>. This ai;rees with the resnlts of lUhors 
who have found the tost to eorrelato nog^atively w ith sehool 
n\arks ^^ and with tests whieh are known to eorrelato 
highly with intelhgenee.^'' 

Now it ccuvnot be denied that tho oaitcellation has sonic- 
tinies shown positive correlations with intelligence. It is 
piirticularly likely todo sowhen complicated by the require- 
ment of cancellation of several letters instead of merely 
one, and when accuracy is given due weight in the grading. 
On the whole, however, the resnlts obtained with this test 
may Ix^ regarded as indicating that neither great spet\l 
nor great accuracy of simple perceptual processes is of 
any advantage as far as intelligence is concenuxl. C^^f 
course this conclusion does not mean that perception is of 
little advantage. Both sensation and perception are indis- 
pensable to intelligence; b\u retinemont Ixwond a cortaiti 

"Whipple. ** Manual of Mental and Physical Test?.*' -?d ed.. 
part 1. p. 3-4- 

"^(cCa^. "Correlation of Some Psvcholog-ical and Educational 
Measurements." tot6, p. 40. 



LMAGERY 165 

minimum, while it may Ixi of advantage in certain special 
pursuits, is of no aid to success in general. 

Imagery. — The capacity for imagery is diffjcult to 
investigate, but very exhaustive and painstaking studies 
of imagery in children have nevertheless Ix^en made. It 
has long \)Qcn established, by patient questioning, that 
children employ concrete imagery much more than do 
adults. Children picture to themselves the actual object, 
whereas adults think more in terms of symlxjls of objects, 
especially in mere words. The substitution of symlxjlic 
or abstract images for concrete ones occurs gradually, but 
judging from comparative studies of children and adults, 
the change is most marked at alx^ut the age of thirteen to 
fourteen. Before the age of pulx^rty the normal child 
thinks characteristically in concrete terms, in^ terms of 
particular instances. Childhood is, and should l>c, a period 
f(jr the acquisition of a host of detailed, accurate percep- 
tions and images. Greater wealth of such acquisition in 
childhood provides a Ixitter foundation for adult abstrac- 
tions. A precocious tendency towards the use of abstract 
thought is therefore not a promising sign. According to 
Meumann, a very distinguished authority, precocity in 
this respect is characteristic of dull children, whereas the 
more intelligent are lx;st represented by the tendency to 
use concrete images.^*^ 

On the relation of intelligence to clearness or distinct- 
ness of children's imagery, the most valuable evidence has 
been obtained by Carey.^^ His investigations concen- 
trated upon the clearness of imagery by a large number of 

*•" Intclligenzpriifungen an Kindern der Volkschule," Experi- 
mentelle Fadagogik, vol. i, 1905, p. 93. 

" " Factors in the Mental Processes of .School Children," part i, 
" Visual and Auditory Imagery." British Journal of Psychology, vol. 
vii, 1915, pp. 453-490. 



i66 SIMPLE MENTAL PROCESSES 

experiments, each of which required the child to make 
introspective judgments concerning- the clearness of his 
images. As an illustration of his method, we may cite 
the following one of eight tests used for visual imagery : 

3. Think OF THE Fire Engine 

Can you picture the firemen ? Clearly, fairly clearly, 

or dimly ? 
Can you count them? Clearly, fairly clearly, or 

dimly? 
Can you picture the horses galloping to a fire ? Clearly, 

fairly clearly, or dimly? 

Before the experiment, some pains were taken to 
explain the various degrees of clearness. " Each child 
was asked to look at a particular object in the room and 
then to shut his eyes and compare the clearness of the 
image with that of the object, and an endeavor was made 
to make the meaning of the terms * clear,' * fairly clear,' 
and * dim,' as definite as possible. * Clear ' was to mean 
that the image was as plain as the object itself. ' Fairly 
clear ' was to mean that the image was not so plain as the 
object, but that it could be maintained without much 
effort. * Dim ' was to mean that the object could be 
pictured, but that it was ' shadowy,' and kept coming and 
going.'' The introspection of mental processes is usually 
considered too difficult for children, but in the task cited is 
fairly simple, and a special study made by Carey indicated 
that the introspections were sufficiently reliable for his 
purpose. He writes that '' not a single case occurred of 
a child who appeared to have failed to understand or to 
be unable to answer." 2- 

*• Op. cit, p. 4S0. 



IMAGERY 167 

The marks obtained from these tests of imagery were 
compared with a ranking of children according to '' scho- 
lastic " and " practical " intelligence drawn up by the 
teachers, and also with the marks obtained in the various 
school subjects. The correlations were found in all cases 
to be very low. Between teachers' estimates of intelligence 
and the clearness of the different sorts of imagery, what 
little correlation there was tended to be negative. The 
correlation with marks in particular school subjects was 
sometimes slightly positive and sometimes slightly nega- 
tive, but averaged very nearly zero. Painting was the 
only school subject found to show a positive correlation 
with imagery, and even this correlation was low. 

The findings of Carey conform with those of other 
investigators. Rusk, for example, concludes that " Chil- 
dren who are best endowed with respect to the various 
forms of imagery do not, it would appear, necessarily 
stand highest in school." ^^ 

The low correlation between clearness of imagery and 
intelligence is not particularly difficult to understand. It 
is commonly assumed that every type of mental process 
involves the use of imagery. This may be true, although 
its application to thought processes is questionable. But 
in thinking and reasoning, imagery functions solely 
as a symbol. Almost any image can be used as the vehicle 
for any thought, just as different sounds or words are used 
in different languages, all to indicate the same object. 
Admitting, then, that imagery of some sort is indispensable 
in all mental operations, it must be conceded that in general 
the sort of imagery, visual or auditory, distinct or vague, 
is of little import. 

^^ " Mental Association in Children." British Journal of Psychol- 
ogy, vol. iii, 1909-1910, p. 385. 



i68 SIMPLE MENTAL PROCESSES 

Feelings. — In addition to sensations and images it is 
customary to recognize a third type of elementary mental 
processes, namely, the feelings or " affections "of pleas- 
antness and unpleasantness. There is considerable dis- 
agreement among psychologists concerning the status 
which a systematic psychology should assign to these 
processes. The commonest opinion is that they are neither 
sensations nor attributes of sensations, but are a separate 
class of mental elements. They are usually distinguished 
sharply from the more complex processes called emotions 
— joy, grief, fear, love and anger. 

There is general agreement concerning the feelings on 
two points of importance in connection with intelligence. 
First, there exists a very strong, inborn tendency to do 
those things which give pleasure, and to avoid those which 
produce unpleasantness. In accordance with this tend- 
ency is the recognized educational principle that ** acts 
which are to be repeated, ends that are to be achieved, 
and behavior that is to be confirmed, should be made as 
pleasurable in their consequences as possible." ^^ The 
second point generally agreed upon is that pleasantness is 
usually the sign of an efficient and beneficial functioning 
of the nervous system, while unpleasantness signifies the 
reverse. As a rule, the pleasurable things are those which 
are beneficial, and the unpleasant those which are harmful. 
Now since the tendency is to do the pleasant things and 
avoid the unpleasant, it is evident that the feelings, in 
spite of their waywardness, of themselves afford an indis- 
pensable guide to correct behavior. 

On general grounds the feelings thus appear to play 
an important part in the determination of behavior, but 
observations to prove their correlation with intelligence 

^* Colvin and Bagley, " Human Behavior," 1913, p. 91. 



FEELINGS 169 

are few and far between. So far as they go, however, 
these observations indicate a very considerable relation. 
It has been frequently noted that feeble-minded children 
are below normal in the strength of their feelings, and that 
their feelings are often perverted, or out of harmony with 
the object producing them. According to the observations 
of Sherlock, defectiveness of the feelings is more or less 
proportionate to the degree of feeble-mindedness.^^ This 
agrees with the result noted earlier in this chapter that 
sensitivity to pain appears to be definitely correlated with 
intelligence. Pain, to be sure, is a sensation, and not the 
same thing as the feeling of unpleasantness; yet pain is 
almost invariably accompanied by unpleasantness, and sen- 
sitivity to it is probably closely correlated with acuteness 
of feeling. 

An interesting study of the feelings was made by 
Wylie, by taking advantage of the well-known fact that 
bodily changes invariably accompany the feelings. By 
means of apparatus which recorded the breathing, he stud- 
ied the effect upon children produced by an unpleasant 
sensation. The sensation used in most cases was that 
of the taste of quinine. The disturbance produced in the 
breathing was found to be very slight in imbeciles, but 
increased to a very marked degree as the children 
approached the normal in brightness. ^^ He made no ex- 
periments to test the effect of pleasure, but his observa- 
tions led him to believe that pleasantness is likewise less 
intense in feeble-minded children. 

This completes a survey of the relationship between 
intelligence and the elementary mental processes. Except 



23 (I 



"The Feeble-Minded," 1911, pp. 74-76. 

' Instincts and Emotions of the Feeble-Minded." Journal of 



Psycho-Asthenics, vol. v, 1901, p. 105. 



I70 vSLMri.K M1:N IWL TRCVKSSKS 

in the case oi the tcoliiii;s. ou which data arc vtM-y scarce, 
the lolatiiMJship is obviously not very close. This does 
not mean ihat the elcnieutaiv pr<>cesses are nuunportant. 
\\ ithoni the elementary processes there conKl Iv no coni- 
]>le\ ones. It means merely that i;reat iTtinement in the 
simple mental operations is no i;teat asset. Their deveK>p- 
inent lK\yond a certain point is oi little i;eneral yalne. 
The important thini;" is the arrangement and iM'L^ani/ation 
of the mental processes— the interrelationships that exist 
Ivtween the sin\pler processes and the dei;ree of their co- 
operation in the carryin*; out of the more complex mental 
operations. Ot all the torms oi interrelatiiniship Ivtween 
mental processes, the two nu>st fmulamental are those ot 
assiH'iation and attention, now to be considered. 



CHAPTER IX 
ASSOCIATION, MEMORY AND ATTENTION 

If a single word is pronounccrl to a person prepared 
to ^ive it attention, it will at once call to his mind various 
related worrls and ideas. These ideas in turn will summon 
still other ideas, and so the process of thought will con- 
tinue until interrupted by some external event which 
catches the attention and initiates another series of ideas, 
'i'he entire course of thought, including all the complex 
processes of imagination, judgment and reasoning may Ixi 
analyzed into a set of sequences of one idea upon another. 
'J he occurrence of one iflea, or of any mental process in 
sequence upon, and as the result of, another, is called 
an association. Since all thinking is made up of a multi- 
tude of such sequences, clearly the processes of association 
must pervade the entire intellectual life. 

In its simplest forms, assrjciation is studied mainly 
hy two methods — that of free association and that of ajn- 
trolled association. In the free association method, the 
subject allows to come into his mind whatever associations 
may s[Xjntaneously arise. In the controlled association 
method, on the other hand, the associations of the subject 
are guided by instructions from the examiner. Instead of 
coming and going without direction, the associated ideas 
must stand in some prescribed relationship to each other — 
cause and effect, similarity, or contrast. 

Free Association. — The most widely used procedure 
in the free association method is that introduced by Jung.^ 

*"The Association Method." American Journal of Psychology, 
vol. xxi, 1 910, pp. 219-270. 

171 



172 ASSOCIATION, MEMORY, ATTENTION 

A list of common words, called stimulus words, is pro- 
iioniiccd to the pupil, who has been previously instructed 
lo reply to each word as quickly as possible with the first 
word that it brings to mind. The examiner gives a few 
carefully chosen illustrations, to begin with, somewhat 
in this fashion: ** When I give you a word, for example, 
rat, you answer just as quickly as you can with the very 
first word that comes into your head, no matter what it is — 
it may be mouse or cat, or it may be cheese, floor, hole 
or chimney, or something that doesn't make any sense 
at all, like hat or teacher. Never reply by more than a 
single word." The reply is made orally when the test is 
given to the children individually, and in writing when the 
test is a class experiment. 

Upon careful examination the replies received with a 
list of one hundred words arc found to l>e surprisingly 
interesting and illuminating. Peculiar associations gener- 
ally signify some peculiarity in the child's previous experi- 
ence, since it is a fundamental law of association that 
one idea cannot call up another in immediate sequence 
to itself unless the two have been connected in some 
previous experience. An analysis should consequently be 
made of all peculiar associations by persuading the child 
to recall in detail the experiences which explain them. 
When the tests are given individually, it is also important 
to note Uiosc in which the response is a long time fortli- 
coming, and to analyze these also, particularly to deter- 
mine whether or not the delay is due to any strong 
emotional connections. 

I have found this analysis of the peculiar and hesi- 
tating responses particularly valuable in the study of 
juvenile court cases. For example, I once gave the free 
association test to a thirteen-year-old boy accused of 



FREE ASSOCIATION 173 

having stolen some copper wire. lie obstinately denied 
the theft. In a long list of stimulus words, I inserted the 
word copper and immediately afterwards the word wire. 
To the word copper, the boy replied promptly with cut — 
a peculiar response; l>ut at the word zvirc, he 1)ecame 
confused, and after about thirty seconds responded with 
garage. When I asked him why wire suggested to him 
garage, the young delinquent knew that he had betrayed 
himself, and immediately confessed. 

The results of the free association test can be adc- 
(|uately interpreted only with the aid of *' association 
frequency tables." These tables show the responses to 
a given stimulus word, and the numlxir of times each 
one occurs among the responses of one thousand individ- 
uals. It has been found that the same word pronounced 
to one thousand persons does not bring out one thousand 
different resp(jnses. For example, to the word dark, 
over four hundred out of a thousand children will respond 
with the word night, and to the word scissors, alx)ut eight 
hundred out of a thousand will respond with the word cut. 
Besides the most frequent response, there are always many 
others, so that, on the average, something over one hun- 
dred different responses will be obtained from one thous- 
and children. A frequency table shows the numlxr of 
children in one thousand giving each of the responses. 

As an illustration, I may give the following frequency 
table 2 compiled from the responses of Minneapolis school 
children from nine to twelve years of age, to the stimulus 
word, fun. The favorite response is play, given by 394 
children. Before each response is placed the number of 
children giving it. 

' vSee Woodrow and Lowell, " Children's Association Frcquencj, 
Tables." Psychological Monographs, No. 97, 19 16, p. 41. 



174 ASSOCIATION, MEMORY, ATTENTION 
Responses to the Word Fun by One Thousand School Children 



3 lx\d 


I down 


1 ground 


3 lunch 


1 sew 


35 ^all 


1 di\n\nied 


4 gun 




2 shovel 


7 lusoball 






(1 marbles 


2 show 


5 basketball 


J eat 


I had 


2 nuMiey 


4 skate 


1 box 


5 eatini; 


10 happy 


1 mueh 


I skates 


4 ^^'■^y 


I enjoy 


4 hapi>iness 




1 1 skating 


lo bovs 


J enjoy inv: 


1 7 have 


8 niee 


3 sled 


J build 




1 1 hidt^-and-see 


k J noise 


J slide 


1 but\ 


2 tall 


4 luvkey 




5 stunv 


1 butter 


J fell 


2 hop 


J outdoors 


(> snowball 




3 tiJ^^lit 


3 hurt 


I outside 


snowballs 


1 eaii 


1 tinj^er 






2 snowlight 


1 cap 


9 t'lshiui; 


1 T 


304 play 


4 sport 


4 cluvn- 


I food 


I it 


34 playing 


7 swimming 


J ehiia 


15 football 




4 pleasure 




13 chiKlivn 


; fntlie 


3 jol<os 




22 tag 


1 eloek 


3 full 


I joking 


3 ra^v 


2 time 


1 eookie 


5 funny 


(> jolly 


2 rati 


2 toy 






:?0 joy 


1 nit 


I tO\'S 


3 dark 


1 2 ^:\mc 


(> jump 


2 rt\id 




I delii^ht 


3vS oan\es 




3 reeess 


1 Nery 


2 delii;htful 


I gay 


i8 laugh 


3 tvpo 




4 dij;i;inj; 


1 girl 


J laughed 


4(> nin 


2 w;ilk 


2 dirt 


2 girls 


3 laughing 


I nmning 


I water 


1 doll 


4 :-;lad 


1 light 




I well 


Q dolls 


«.) g(.XXl 


5 like 


4 selux>l 


I window 


3 dvXMS 


4 gixnl time 


• 5 lots 


1 see 





l^^'retinoiioy tables have been eonipiled oti an elaborate 
scale K^th for adults "' and for ehiUlreii/ so that interest- 
ing;" comparisons nu\y readily be made. How striking is 
the ditYerence Ivtween the two groups may be seen by 
comparing" their commonest responses. Tltese responses 
arc i;iven in the accompanyini;- table tor ten words, chosen 
as among" the words for which the ditYerence is greatest. 

' Kent and RosanotY. " .\ Study of .\ssociation in Insanity." 
Amcrti\iu Journal of hiSiiitity. vol. Ixvii. IQIO, Nos. 1 and 2. 
* Woodrow and Lowell, of", cit. 



FREE ASSOCIATION 



175 



The frequency of the commonest respr^nse of each ^roup 
is ^iven in itah'cs. For eax:h of the conimfjnest of one 
^roup, is given in plain type the corresponding frequency 
(jf the other group. 

COMI'AKISON OK THE FREQUENCIES OF FaVOKITE RESPONSES IN O.N'E 

Thousand Adults and One Thousand Children 



StimuluH word 

I. Table 


R<;HponBC 

chair 
cat 


Adults 

267 

63 


Children 
16 

J5^ 


2. Sickness 


health 
floe tor 


142 
62 


116 


3. Man 


woman 
work 


394 
17 


8 
168 


4. Girl 


boy 
dress 


''\ 


40 
240 


5. Deep 


shallow 
hole 


180 
32 


6 
257 


6. Needle 


thread 


160 


72 




sew 


1.34 


449 


7. Sleep 


rest 
bed 


300 
75 


40 
351 


8. Stomach 


forxJ 
ache 


102 
31 


82 
j8g 


9. Doctor 


physician 
sick 


213 

52 


6 
448 


10. Hand 


frxjt 
finders 


204 

83 




130 



A careful study of a list of one hundred responses, 
particularly when frequency tables are at hand for com- 
parison, is often valuable in forming an estimate of a 
child's intelligence. Among the special characteristics 



176 ASSOCIATION. MEMORY, ATTENTION 

which distinguish the associations of the less intenigent 
from the more intelligent are tlie following live : ( i ) The 
less intelligent freqnently misunderstand or misinterpret 
the stimulus word. ( 2 ) They often fail to give a response. 
(3) They offer a number of senseless responses — the 
response word standing in no apparent relation to the 
stimulus word. (4) Their responses give evidence of less 
mental effort, being sometimes only a changed form of 
the stimulus word, as wish — wishing, or a meaningless 
sound association, as fruit — boot. (5) Their responses 
are likely to show^ mental inertia, of w^hich there are two 
main types. First, the response may consist in the simple 
repetition of a previous stimulus word or of a previous 
response word. Second, a stimulus word may start a train 
of ideas, which persists and detennines the succeeding 
responses independently of the stimulus word. Illustrat- 
ing this latter sort of inertia, one dull boy responded to 
house by ham; then to black by horse; then, w^ithout refer- 
ence to the stimulus w^ord, to fun by cotv; and so on. In 
this case the boy's mind was on the animals in the bam. 
and no matter what word \vas pronounced to him. he con- 
tinued to respond by something connected with the topic 
then dominating his thought. 

When a more quantitative expression of the integrity 
of the association processes is desired, that is, a measure- 
ment that can be expressed in numbers, the best procedure 
is probably that suggested by Romer.^ It involves going 
over the responses of each child and checking off every 
" favorite " response. A favorite response is the one 

• " Associations\'ersuche an geistig Ziiruckcfeblichenen Kindern.'* 
Fortschntte dcr Psychologie und ihrer Anu^ndungen, vol. iii, 1014, 
pp. 43-101. 



CONTROLLED ASSOCIATION 177 

which has the highest frequency in the frequency table 
for the corresponding' stimulus word. According to 
Romer, a conspicuously small number of favorite 
responses indicates inferiority of intelligence. He finds 
that the great majority of mentally retarded children 
respond with a smaller number of favorite responses 
than do three- fourths of normal children of the same 
chronological age. 

In view of all its possibilities the free association test 
has been regarded as one of the most valuable single 
tests yet devised. Its chief worth lies in the opportunity 
it affords for psychological analysis, and in its picturing 
of a child's mental make-up. In these respects it is 
superior to the controlled association tests. The latter 
give a ranking, a number, but, like many other mental 
tests, little more. 

Controlled Association. — The controlled association 
tests, although they do not intimately reveal the nature 
of the child's mind in the manner of the free association 
tests, give measures very closely correlated with the child's 
brightness. To a certain extent, they may be regarded 
as tests of the organization of associations, or rather of 
the degree of discipline within that organization. They 
test the ability to perform the right mental operation at 
the right time, a power of obvious importance. Controlled 
association tests are numerous. I shall mention only 
two, the '' opposites " test and the " completion " test. 

The opposites test is one of a number, in which the 
subject must respond to the stimulus word not simply 
with whatever word occurs to him, but with a word 
standing in some prescribed logical relation to the stim- 
ulus word. In the opposites test, the response must 
12 



178 ASSOCIATION, MEMORY, ATTENTION 

consist of a ^vord meaning the exact opposite of the stimu- 
his word. Both accuracy and speed are involved, and 
therefore the test may be graded in various ways, but the 
simplest way is to take the number of correct opposites 
written in a given time. Here are two popular lists of 
stimulus words. The easy list, recommended by Professor 
Whipple, is suitable for children of lo years or younger, 
and the more difficult, proposed by Professor Pyle, is 
adapted to older children and to adults. 



Easy Opposites 


Hard Opposites 


high 


best 


summer 


weary 


out 


cloudy 


white 


patient 


slow 


careful 


yes 


stale 


above 


tender 


north 


ignorant 


top 


doubtful 


wet 


serious 


good 


reckless 


rich 


join 


up 


advance 


front 


honest 


long 


gay 


hot 


forget 


east 


calm 


day 


rare 


big 


dim 


love 


difficult 



Exceedingly high correlations with intelligence have 
been demonstrated by data obtained with this test. A 
number of experimenters have worked out percentages of 
correlation in the neighborhood of eighty.*^ Both peda- 
gogically retarded and feeble-minded children fall defi- 

"Bonser, "The Reasoning Ability of Children," 1910, p. loi; 
and Simpson, " Correlations of Mental Abihties," 1912, p. 75. 



CONTROLLED ASSOCIATION 179 

nitely below the normal ones in this test, in speed as well 
as in quality of response J 

The completion test correlates as highly with intelli- 
gence as does the opposites test. It consists of a passage 
of prose in which certain words have been omitted. Each 
omitted word is represented by a blank, which the subject 
is required to fill with a word that makes good sense. 
The associations are thus controlled by the context. While 
the completion test, from the psychological point of view, 
may best be classified as a test of controlled association, 
it cannot be denied that success in it is also to some extent 
dependent upon imagination and linguistic ability. Almost 
any text can be adapted for use as a completion test. 
Passages from school texts already studied by the pupil, 
or other passages based thereon, when converted into com- 
pletion tests, may serve excellently in place of the ordi- 
nary type of examination questions. If the right words 
have been omitted, only a child with the requisite com- 
prehension of the subject will be able to fill in the blanks 
correctly. For psychological purposes a great variety of 
texts have been used. 

The best known of the completion tests, perhaps, 
are those used by Trabue as measures of the language 
ability of school children. There are a number of sets 
of these, two of which are here reproduced, the one. 
Scale B, for younger children, the other. Scale L, for 
older children.^ Only one word is to be written in 
each blank. 

^ Squire, " Graded Alental Tests," Journal of Educational Psychol- 
ogy, vol. iii, 1912, p. 431; and Norsworthy, "The Psychology of 
Mentally Deficient Children," Archives of Psychology, No. i, 1906, 
pp. 59-62. 

^Published and copyrighted by Teachers' College, Columbia 
University, New York City. 



iSo ASSOCIATION. :\IEMORY. ATTENTION 

Scale r. 

I. Wo liko good 1h\vs girls, 

J. The is barking at the cat. 

,^ Tlio stars ami the will shine to-night. 

4. Tinio often more valuable uK^ne;*'. 

5. The poor baby as if it were sick. 

t>. She if she will. 

7. Brothers and sisters always to help other 

and should nuarrel. 

8 weather usually a good etYect oi\e's spirits. 

0. It is very annoying to tooth-ache, often 

conies at the most time imaginable. 

10. To friends is always the it takes. 

Scale L 

1. 0\ildren are rude not easily win friends. 

2. rienty exercise and air iiealthy and 

girls. 

^^ In to maintain health. i>ne sliould have nourish- 
ing 

4 happiness cannot be with money. 

5. One's do always express his thoughts. 

t\ To to ^yait. a Iter hav ing to go 

very annoying. 

7. It is sometimes to between two of action. 

8. One can do his at one while of an- 

other. 

Memory. — Closely related to the tests of controlled 
association are those ordinarily nsed tor nieasurini;" niem- 
orv, I'Aory act c>f memory is one of controlled association. 
A rememlxM-ed \vord or idea comes into mind throngh 
association with some other idea, and memorizing" consists 
simplv in the formation of associations. Tims, in memor- 
izing- a. French- English vocabnlary. the process is one of 
establishing associations l>et\vcen the hVench words and 
the corresixMiding- English \Yords; and memory for snch 
a vocabnlan' is tested by giving the hVench words to 
detennine whether or not they call up the right association. 
In snch tests, the associations are even more strictly con- 
trolled than they are in the opposites test; for although a 



MEMORY i8i 

word may have several fairly accurate opposites, a given 
French word has only one correct translation. The proc- 
ess of memorizing a connected passage consists in forming 
associations l)etween each word or phrase and the succeed- 
ing ones. It is evident, then, that memory tests might 
very properly be grouped imder tests of controlled 
association. 

The difference between association tests and memory 
tests is that in the former the associations brought to 
light by the test have been formed in the individual's past 
experience, Ijefore the test is given to him ; whereas in the 
latter they are formed under the control of the examiner. 
The association tests appraise the organization of associa- 
tions formed in the past under more or less vague con- 
ditions, whereas memory tests reveal the power of form- 
ing associations by determining their strength after a 
definite and carefully controlled period of study. 

It is irrefutable that an individual may remember one 
class of facts or objects much better than he does others. 
It follows, then, that to obtain an accurate idea of any 
individual's memory, a number of tests must be given 
so as to include a considerable variety of memory mate- 
rials. A variety of methods should be used. In general, 
memory is tested by presenting to the subject for study 
certain memory material, and afterwards calling upon the 
subject to reproduce the material, which may be either 
visual or auditory, that is, either seen or heard, and may 
consist either of words or of objects, such as pictures 
or geometrical diagrams. The subject may reproduce 
this material by any possible means of expression, by 
speech, by writing, by drawing, by pointing, or, with 
musical material, by whistling, singing, or playing upon 
some musical instrument. Three chief types of procedure 



i82 ASSOCIATION, MEMORY, ATTENTION 

may be followed. These arc, tlie method of right asso- 
ciates; the method of amount retained; and the learning 
method. There are drawbacks as well as advantages to 
each of them. 

The method of paired associates is in some ways the 
most satisfactory. Words, numbers, colors, or even con- 
crete objects may be used as the units to be memorized. 
They may ]yc presented to either the eye or the ear, hence 
let us suppose that spoken words are to be used. Pairs of 
words are read to the children, who are required to 
repeat each pair out loud before the following pair is read. 
The list, which may be of any desired length, is some- 
times repeated more than once. Then the first words 
of the pairs are read alone, in a new order, and the children 
write down the other word of each pair. It is much like 
the procedure used in testing an English and foreign lan- 
guage vocabulary, in which each foreign word has its 
English associate, but differs therefrom in that both mem- 
]>ers of each pair arc English words and the number of 
repetitions is controlled by the examiner. A good varia- 
tion of the method is to give a number to each of a list 
of words, then, after reading Ix^th the words and their 
numbers, to read the words only and ask the children to 
write down the numbers. In all cases the measure of 
memory is the number of second members of the pairs 
written correctly, that is, the numlicr of right associates. 
As in all memory examinations, the testing proper may 
be postponed to any desiral time after the original pres- 
entations of the material. 

The meth(xl of amount retained, in the broadest sense, 
may be said to include all the other methods. It is ordi- 
narily used, however, to designate the testing of memory 
simply by presenting material once or oftener, and then 



MEMORY 183 

taking as the measure of memory the amount (number 
of words, digits or other elements) that the subject can 
correctly reproduce. Material commonly used consists 
of short prose passages of uniform difficulty throughout, 
or of lists of words, digits or letters. The largest num- 
ber of such elements that can be correctly reproduced after 
one presentation is known as the memory '^ span." It is 
determined by beginning with a short series, say of three 
words, easily reproduced, and gradually increasing the 
length of the series, one element at a time, until they 
are of such length that they can no longer be reproduced 
correctly. The greatest length of series that is reproduced 
correctly in two trials out of three may be taken as the 
memory span. 

The third method of measuring memory is the learning 
method. Somewhat difficult to control accurately, it is 
nevertheless a useful method. Its object is to determine 
the amount of study, measured either in terms of time 
or number of repetitions, required to learn a given material 
just well enough to be able to reproduce it without error. 
According to this method the child who can correctly 
recite a verse of poetry after the shortest period of study 
has the best memory of his class. 

These methods, with numerous modifications of them, 
have been used extensively in studying the importance of 
memory in respect to intelligence. A very considerable 
degree of correlation has been discovered. Brown tested 
memory for poetry and for nonsense syllables in London 
schools, and found correlations in the neighborhood of 
fifty per cent, with school marks and with general intelli- 
gence as estimated by teachers.^ Some investigators have 

" " Some Experimental Results in the Correlation of Mental Abili- 
ties." British Journal of Psychology, vol. iii, 1910, pp. 296-322. 



1 84 ASSOCIATION, MEMORY, ATTENTION 

found lower,^^ others higher, ^^ correlations. In general, 
good memory seems more essential to a high order of 
intelligence than the ability to make fine sensory dis- 
criminations, but less important than the organization of 
associations as tested by the opposites test or the com- 
pletion test. 

One of the best ways of detennining the importance 
of any mental capacity as a factor in intelligence is to 
determine to what extent its impairment parallels the 
enfeeblement of intelligence. This method has been 
employed in a number of investigations of memory in 
the feeble-minded. Johnson may be quoted as representa- 
tive ; he writes of the memory span : 

" The results of the memory tests show that the feeble- 
minded fall considerably below normal children in memory 
span. But the memory span is so good in some cases, 
and the average for the majority so high, that we are led 
to conclude that the degree in which the memory span 
of feeble-minded cliildren falls below that of normal chil- 
dren is not commensurate with the degree in which the 
feeble-minded fall below normal children in general intel- 
ligence. Moreover, it is evident that the deficiency in 
attention and will-power, so proverbial in the feeble- 
minded child, would tend to cause the memory span to be 
lower than that which a normal child of equal physiologi- 
cal retentiveness of memory w^ouUl have. Hence we may 
conclude that weakness of memory, physiologically speak- 
ing, is not a specially prominent factor in feeble- 
mindedness/' ^2 

" Carey, " Factors in the Mental Processes of School Children," 
part ii. British Journat of Psychology, vol. viii, 1915, p. 88. 

" Riirt, " Experimental Tests of General Intelligence." British 
Journal of Psychology, vol. iii, 1909, PP. I4I-T45- 

" " Contriljiition to the Psychology and Pedagogy of Feeble- 
Minded Children." Journal of Psycho- Asthenics, vol. ii, 1897, pp. 
68-69. 



ATTENTION 185 

In addition to the fact that memory is dependent upon 
attention and will-power, it should be noted that to a 
certain extent memory also involves the capacity for 
rational reconstruction. If certain items of a short story 
are remembered, an intelligent person can fill in others 
from imagination, and so reconstruct the story, if not in 
its original form, at least in such a way as to make good 
sense. The feeble-minded confuse a story hopelessly — so 
that it is a jumble of words without meaning — show- 
ing themselves to be very weak in the capacity for putting 
together in a logical way items which they may contrive 
to remember. It is, of course, less desirable to remember 
well than to remember the right things. It takes judgment 
to decide what is worth remembering. It is not memory 
in itself, but tlie use that is made thereof, which deter- 
mines intelligence. Consequently, it is easy to understand 
why memory ability, in spite of its enormous value, falls 
so far short of perfect correlation with intelligence. 

Attention. — Attention, like association, is fundamen- 
tal. It shares in every mental operation. It is the great 
steadying and directing factor of the mind. Association 
is the process whereby the stream of mental events con- 
tinues to run its course; attention is the process which 
directs the stream to a certain course, and thus, holding 
it in bounds, preserves its force and vigor, instead of 
allowing it to be dissipated by aimless meanderings in 
any direction. 

Good attention means devotion to the business at hand. 
It amounts to a surrender of the mind to the object of 
interest, so that the latter takes complete possession. This 
object of interest may be an external spectacle or the solu- 
tion of an abstiTise problem, but, whatever it may be, the 
greater the degree of attention directed to it, the greater 
the amount of mental energy thereby absorbed. Mental 



i86 ASSOCIATION, MEMORY, ATTENTION 

energy is monopolized by one set of mental operations, 
which thus reinforce themselves at the expense of all 
conflicting ones, and, by so doing, acquire greater strength 
and efficiency, manifested by the success of the actions 
to which they lead. 

The difference between good attention and bad atten- 
tion is primarily a matter of degree. In dull children, the 
degree of attention is weak; power of concentration is 
lacking. Inability to resist distractions accompanies this 
general feebleness of attention. Every little external 
occurrence is a successful but short-lived claimant of 
mental favor. There is no loyalty to any one purpose. 
Occasionally, but rarely, children show exceptional irregu- 
larity of attention, the degree of attention being good as a 
rule, but at times very poor. In these cases an attempt 
should be made to ascertain the cause of the marked 
irregularity. It may be necessary to consult a physician. 
To estimate the degree of attention of which a child 
is capable is exceedingly difficult. The teacher can judge 
of a child's attention only by his demeanor, and this is 
very misleading. In general, no doubt, the child who 
keeps his eyes on his work and appears to be absorbed 
in his occupation is paying better attention than one who 
. fidgets about. And no doubt it speaks well of the power 
^of attention of the pupils in a class if it is easy to secure 
\ perfect quiet from them. A great difference between the 
second grade and the eighth grade is noticeable in the 
amount of scuffling of the feet while the class is atten- 
tively at work. But these signs at best lead to no better 
than a rough estimate of attention, and not to accu- 
rate measures. 

The principle on which are based most of the scientific 
methods for measuring attention is that the higher the 
degree of attention to a specified task, tlie greater the 



ATTENTION 187 

resistance to distraction.^^ The subject's efficiency in 
some mental work is first measured under highly favorable 
conditions, and then under distraction. The greater the 
decrease in his efficiency as the result of distraction, the 
poorer his attention. The distraction may be produced 
by requiring the subject to carry on some other mental 
work simultaneously with the principal mental work, 
or merely by some modification in the conditions of the 
work, so that greater attention is required to attain the 
same results. The dotting test is a good illustration of 
this latter method, in which the distraction (or, as I prefer 
to say in this case, the detraction) consists simply in an 
increase in the difficulty of the conditions under which 
attention must be given. 

The dotting test, used by Burt upon school children,^^ 
is far from being purely a test of attention. It does not 
measure attention apart from other factors. Nevertheless 
it makes great demands upon attention. The task of the 
pupil in this test is to mark with a pencil each dot of an 
irregular zigzag row, printed upon a paper tape, as shown 
in figure No. 9. The tape is seen through a small window, 
past which it is carried by a small drum rotated by 
clock-work. The task can be made more and more diffi- 
cult by increasing the speed of the drum. 

" The subject watches and marks the dots as they 
appear through the window, and are carried past to his 
left. Each act of dotting constitutes a discrimination 
reaction, and a spell of dotting constitutes a series of such 
reactions performed at full, or nearly full, speed. . . . 

" See Woodrow, " The Measurement of Attention," Psychologi- 
cal Monographs, No. 76, 1914, p. 158; also "Outline as a Condition 
of Attention," Journal of Experimental Psychology, vol, i, 1916, pp. 
23-39 ; and " The Faculty of Attention," ibid., vol. i, 1916, pp. 285-318. 

* " Experimental Tests of General Intelligence." British Journal 
of Psychology, vol. iii, 1909, pp. 153-157. 



iSS ASSOCIATION. ME^IORY, ATTENTION 

As the position of each dot is unknown till it is seen, 
each stroke has to be aimed. This requires a sustained 
effort of attention, the degree of effort depending upon 
the rate of the strokes, and therefore measured by the rate 
of movement of the dots upon the paper. When marked, 
the paper furnishes a permanent graphic record of the 
maintenance of the effort, failure of continuity of atten- 
tion being indicated by the presence of pencil marks 
unaimed or of dots unmarked. "^^"^ 

Besides the dotting test, devised especially to test the 
power of sustained attention. Burt used eleven other tests. 



.^^'\^^^^%'^\.\^' 



Fig. 9. — Tape used in the dotting test (filter Burt, British Journal 
of Psychology, vol. iii, 1909, p. 155) 

tests of sensor}' discrimination, motor ability, memory 
and association. He also secured estimates of intelligence 
from the school-masters. It is interesting to note that 
the dotting test showed the highest correlation with all 
the other tests, and that it also showed the highest corre- 
lation with estimated intelligence. In the preparatory 
school the correlation Ix^tween the dotting test and esti- 
mated intelligence was as high as eighty-four per cent. 
The correlation of this test with intelligence appears to 
decrease with practice on account of the fact that the test 
becomes more automatic, and consequently makes less 
demand upon the attention. 

On the basis of his results with the dotting test and 

"0^ cit., p. 154. 



ATTENTION 189 

from various other considerations, Burt concludes that 
voluntary attention, is of all recognized psychological 
functions, the essential factor in general intelligence.^® 
Other experimenters have come to similar decisions. 
Abelson, from his tests on backward children, deduced 
that the essential nature of intellectual deficiency was 
probably a general lowering in the efficiency of per- 
formance because of the need of attention.^"^ And Dr. 
and Mrs. Ordahl, who gave a large number of tests to 
feeble-minded children of the mental ages of six, eight, 
and ten, were convinced that the fundamental difference 
between these mental ages is a matter of attention. They 
conclude that : " In all experiments attention is involved, 
and it is probable that this is the psychological process 
in which the levels of intelligence differ." ^^ 

This belief in the intimate connection between atten- 
tion and intelligence, held by recent experimenters, is not 
a new one. It has been held by a number of distinguished 
psychologists, such as Wundt, Sollier and Binet.^^ These 
authorities do not all view the process of attention in the 
same way, but it is probable that they are all driving at 
much the same fundamental fact. At present the direct 
experimental evidence concerning the relation of attention 
to intelligence is insufficient to justify final pronounce- 
ment. What evidence there is, however, coupled with 
general observation, goes to indicate that attention 
is as closely related to intelligence as any other known 
mental function. 

" Op. cit., p. 169. 
_ ^J " The Measurement of Mental Ability of Backward Children.'* 
British Journal of Psychology, vol. iv, 191 1, p. 311. 

^""Qualitative Differences Between Levels of Intelligence in 
Feeble-Minded Children." Journal of Psycho-Asthenics, Monograph 
Supplements, vol. i, No. 2, 191 5, pp. 43 and 49. 

" See preceding chapter, p. 149. 



CHAPTER X 
COMPLEX MENTAL PROCESSES 

Tuic tonus sitiiplo and complex must be luulcrstood 
iu a relative seuse. V.xcn the situplcst phenomenon appears 
couiplex when viewed in the light of all the relationships 
into which it enters. It is one of the duties of science, 
however, to uuravel the com[)lexity always present in 
reality, and, by a process of abstraction which ii;iu)res 
many asjH^'ts of the phenomenon under investigation, to 
pick out those features which appear to be elementary. 

IH' such a i>rocess of abstraction, psychologists have 
distinguished certain processes as elementary. Sensations 
aud perceptions, images and feeling's are generally 
regarded as the simplest and most elementary factors oi 
mind: and the laws of association and attention are the 
fundamental principles governing* the part played by these 
factors in mental life. The relation of these processes 
to intelligence has already lx?en discussed. More complex 
processes remain to be considered. Among the more 
important of these are reasoning, emotion and will, and 
to these I shall mainly contine my attention. 

Reasoning. — Reasoning is commonly regarded as 
man's distinguishing mental characteristic. In spite of 
its preeminent importance, however, its study by experi- 
mental psychologists has scarcely more than begim. To 
attempt an exact defmition of reasoning would be beyond 
the scope of the present treatise. The statement that it 
is purposive thinking, that it consists in arriving at a 
mental si^lution of a problem thnmgh a more or less 
190 



REAvSONING 191 

orderly process of association and selection of ideas, 
must suffice. 

The solution of problems is much the same thing as 
successful Ixihavior, and it is consec|uc^tly not altogether 
easy to distinguish between the capacity for reason and 
intelligence. IVoblems may Ixi, and often are solved, 
however, without the aid of reasoning. Animals solve 
their problems largely by trial and error, without the use 
of reason. Man does likewise. Some of the greatest 
problems have been solved by what is called intuition. The 
solution simply appears. One has an inspiration. 

Reasoning at best is elusive and treacherous, so that a 
man who relies upon it may actually be less successful than 
one with much less reasoning ability, who acts on impulse. 
Indeed, as reasoning becomes elafxjrate it becomes theoriz- 
ing. A good theory is, of course, an excellent thing, but 
actions based on theory are commonly distinguished from 
those based on observation and experience, and the latter 
are supp^jsed to Ixi successful. 

It has often been urged that human beings seldom base 
their conduct on their reasoning. They act instinctively 
in accordance with their beliefs, prejudices and wants. 
They use their reasoning to convince others, and, if neces- 
sary, themselves, that the conditions they desire are right, 
and that their actions are governed by wisdom. A man 
may act judiciously but not be able to give good reasons 
for his act, whereas another may act foolishly or reck- 
lessly but yet give excellent arguments in justification of 
his course. On the whole, then, reasoning capacity falls 
considerably short of Ixiing the same thing as intelligence. 
lYoblems are solved by means of mental processes other 
than those of reason; the value of the solutions which 
occur to one does not depend entirely upon whether they 



192 COMPLEX MENTAL PROCESSES 

have been reached by a process of reasoning; and even if 
reason is applied to test the correctness of a solution, its 
operation is uncertain and erratic; and the utilization of 
any solution, whether based on reason or not, depends 
upon mental aptitudes other than reasoning capacity itself. 
In spite of all this, reason is one of the most valuable of 
the intellectual processes. Regarded in a broad way, it 
is dependent upon all the other mental processes. 

No very precise tests of reasoning ability have been 
devised. On the other hand, there are a great many tests 
in which success depends upon reasoning ability to a very 
considerable degree. To some extent the teacher tests 
reasoning ability every time she requires a pupil to solve 
a problem. Perhaps of all the school problems, those in 
arithmetic are the best for determining which pupils are 
the best reasoners. Of course the ability to reason about 
arithmetical problems alone could not be taken as a meas- 
ure of anybody's general ability to reason. One may 
reason well in arithmetic but poorly concerning human 
nature. It follows that a thorough diagnosis of reasoning 
ability can be made only on the basis of test problems 
chosen from many widely different fields. 

Aside from test problems involving* more or less 
formal and complete reasoning processes, in all their 
complexity, there are numerous simpler tests which throw 
light on the processes which go to make up reasoning. 
They may be termed tests of logical-mindedness. They 
include tests of analysis and synthesis, the recognition of 
absurdities, the ability to define, the ability to interpret a 
picture,^ or a stanza of poetry,^ the ability to form general 

*Binet and Simon, "The Intelligence of the Feeble-Minded." 
Translated by Kite, 1916, pp. 98-99. 

' Bonser, " The Reasoning Ability of Children," 1910, p. 8. 



REASONING 193 

principles,^ the ability to distinguish between good and 
bad reasons,^ and between sound and false conclusions 
drawn from stated premises.^ 

A number of these tests of logical-mindedness appear 
in the Binet measuring scale of intelligence, or in its 
various revisions. Tests of the ability to give definitions 
occur three times in the Binet and Simon scale. Binet 
points out there are three kinds of response to the request 
for a definition. The first is a failure to give a definition. 
The child remains silent or else responds with some ges- 
ture, such as pointing, or with merely a repetition of the 
word to be defined. The second kind of response is defini- 
tion by use. Capacity for such definitions is fairly well 
developed at the mental age of five. At this age the child 
may be expected to define by use at least four of the 
following six words : fork, table, chair, horse, pencil and 
doll. The third stage is reached at the age of eight or 
nine, when definitions in terms superior to use are given 
for at least half of a list of words like the following: 
balloon, tiger, football, soldier, automobile, battle -ship, 
potato, store. Terman classifies definitions superior to 
use under three headings : " ( ^) Definitions which describe 
the object or tell something of its nature; {b) definitions 
which give the substance or the materials or parts compos- 
ing it; and (c) those which tell what class the object 
belongs to or what relation it bears to other classes of 
objects." ^ The ability to define abstract terms is tested 
by one of the eleven-year tests, in which the child is asked, 
" Can you tell me what * pity ' means? ' Bravery,' *char- 

' Terman, "The Measurement of Intelligence," pp. 310-313. 

* Bonser, op. cit., p. 6 . 

• Kuhlmann, " The Measurement of Mental Development." School 
Publication, Faribault, Minn., 1917, pp. 82-83. 

^Op. cit., p. 221. 

13 



194 COMPLEX MENTAL PROCESSES 

ity,' 'revenge,' * justice'?" The lest is passed if three 
of the five words are defined satisfactorily.'^ 

The inabihty of children below the mental age of eight 
to define in terms better than by use is very striking. It 
is no doubt closely related to the strong tendency of all 
children below the age of puberty to respond by a verb in 
the free association test." The commonest child's 
response to the word table, for example, is eat, instead 
of the word chair — the favorite adult response; and the 
commonest child's response to the (piestion, ** What is a 
table? " is that the object is " to eat on." 

The following dialogue, reported by Binet,^ is a good 
illustration of children's definitions by use. The answers 
were given by a high grade imbecile, twenty-six years old 
chronologically and seven mentally. 

Q. What is .1 house? 

A. A house well :i house it is to rent. 

Q. A fork? 

A. That is to cat with. 

Q. A mama? 

A. She is to get things ready to eat. 

Q. A table? 

A. It is to oat on. 

Q. A chair ? 

A. It is to sit on. 

Q. A horse? 

A. It is to work. 

Q. A snail (edible snail)? 

A. It is to cat. 

Q. A flea? 

A. It is to kill. 

Q. Charily? 

A. It is those who do good in the world. 

Q. Justice? 

A. It is those who do evil. 



' Kuhlmann, \op. cit., p. 60. 

" See Woodrow and Lowell. " Children's Association Frequency 
Tables." Psychohujical Monoijniphs, No. 97, 191^ PP- 78-9^- 
"()/>. (//./p. 101. 



REASONING 19S 

Q. Goodness? 

A. Ah, goodness, it is to get angry. 

Q. Virtue? 

A. (After thinking a long while) I don't know. 

The capacity for analysis and synthesis may be tested 
by asking the child to point out the way in which things 
differ and in which they are alike. Here is a test for 
seven-year intelligence : " What is the difference between : 
(a) A fly and a butterfly? (b) Wood and glass? (c) 
A stone and an egg? " The test is passed if the child indi- 
cates some real difference in two out of three trials. ^^ 
At a mental age of eight, a child should be able to state 
in two cases out of four some way in which the following 
are alike : (a) Wood and coal, (b) An apple and a peach, 
(c) Iron and silver. (d) A ship and an automobile. ^^ 

The recognition of absurdities is given as a ten-year 
test. It is passed if the child points out the nonsense in 
three of the following four statements.^^ 

(a) "A little boy said : * I have three brothers — Paul, 
Ernest, and myself ! ' " 

(b) "A bicycle rider, being thrown from his bicycle in 
an accident, struck his head against a stone and was 
instantly killed. They took him to the hospital, but they 
do not think that he will get well again." 

(c) " A man said: * I know a road from my house 
to the city, which is down hill all the way to the city, and 
down hill all the way back home.' " 

(d) " Yesterday the police found the body of a 
young girl cut into eighteen pieces. They believe that she 
killed herself.'' 

Terman praises the detection of absurdities as one of 

" Kuhlmann, op. cit., p. 36. 
" Kuhlmann, op. cit., p. 43. 
" Kuhlmann, op. cit., p. 58. 



196 COMPLEX MENTAL PROCESSES 

the most ingenious and serviceable tests of the entire Binet 
scale. *' It is," he says, '* little influenced by schooling, and 
it comes nearer than any other to being a test of that 
species of mother-wit which' we call common sense."^^ 

There is no exact data concerning the relation of the 
reasoning processes to intelligence. The existing tests 
are inadequate and lacking in precision, and the investi- 
gations are far too fragmentary. We have still to learn 
the main types of defects; the main factors upon which 
success depends; the best methods of training and the 
amount of improvement which they can effect. Only as 
our knowledge on these and kindred points becomes more 
specific, will there be much of interest or meaning in the 
assumption that capacity for reasoning is above all others 
the distinguishing mark of intelligence. 

Defectiveness of reasoning ability in the feeble-minded 
is striking. On this point, Tredgold takes a decided 
stand, and the interesting observations of this eminent 
authority are worth quoting at length. 

" I regard the chief characteristic of amentia as a 
defect of this capacity [reasoning]. This defect reaches 
its maximum in the most pronounced degree of amentia, 
and in the majority of idiots the ability to reason is com- 
pletely absent. The absolute idiots would even die of 
starvation in the midst of food, if they were not fed. 
The imbeciles possess some capacity for reasoning, 
although of a very simple order; whilst in the feeble- 
minded grade [morons] the defect is still less evident. 
A feeble-minded child who is ignorant of money values, 
if offered the choice of a shilling or half-crown, may 
choose the latter ' because it is bigger/ Some defect, 
however, is present in every grade of amentia; and if I 

" Op. cit., p. 258. 



INSTINCTS AND EMOTIONS 197 

were compelled to specify which particular mental ab- 
normality was chiefly responsible for the maladjustment 
of their conduct, I should certainly say it was the one we 
are now considering. 

'' I know many feeble-minded adults who are regularly 
employed. They are careful, industrious, and thoroughly 
trustworthy, but the work they are capable of and the 
money they can earn is only equivalent to that of a boy 
or girl of school age, and this for the reason that they 
have not sufficient intelligence to cope with any situation 
needing judgment, or do any work which is not of a 
strictly routine character. Moreover, they find it impos- 
sible to lay out the money they earn so as to provide 
themselves with the necessities of life, and in the absence 
of some supervision and kindly control they would rapidly 
come to hopeless want." ^^ 

Instincts and Emotions. — All of the mental processes 
we have so far considered are usually termed intellectual. 
However, it is everywhere recognized that mere intellect 
is not the only important requisite of successful living. 
Traits of temperament and character are equally essential. 
These are very largely matters of will and emotion, and 
of the interrelationship of these two functions. Both 
have an instinctive basis. It is indeed true that all mental 
processes have an instinctive basis, in that all mental 
processes serve to aid, to develop, or to modify the instinc- 
tive or inborn equipment for adjustment to environment. 
The fundamental aims of life are furnished by our instinc- 
tive wants and desires. All incentive to action, if traced 
back far enough, will be found to take root in instinctive 
tendencies. Instincts not only furnish us with aims, but 
in a rough way with the means of accomplishing those 

""Mental Deficiency," 2d ed., 1916, pp. 116-117. 



198 COMPLEX MENTAL PROCESSES 

aims. lUil the man at the nioroy oi his instincts is merely 
a iKWst. His aims remain unprecise and nnlonnnlateil, 
and his mothcnis c^t* accomphshing- them crude and inefli- 
cicni. I am, conscc|ucnily. not inchned to regard instincts 
as identiciU \vith intoUigence ; but that capacity tor mental 
processes ^vhich 1 do regard as intelhgence is prolxibly 
identical uith the capacity for that moditication of 
instincts which results in their Knter adaptation to the 
varying needs and problems o{ life/*' 

Conceding that all human activities are at Ivisis 
instinctive, it is generally recogni/A\l that the relationship 
of instincts to emotions is particularly close. All those 
natural and unlearned expressions of emotion which lend 
warnuh and interest to human life are little other than 
instinctive responses. And the relationship of instincts to 
will is nearly as close as that to emotions. I shall, conse- 
quently, at this point consider brietly the relation between 
degree of intelligence and development of instincts. So 
little has this latter subject been explored, that we are 
compelled to rely mainly on iMie invest ig-ation. that by 
W'ylie. cMi instincts in the feeble-minded.^^' 

In general, feeble-minded children show defective 
development oi instincts. Some instincts fail to ap].>ear, 
and the expression of those which are apparent is frag- 
mentary in character, lacking in fullness and vigor. It 
might be supposed that the instincts not ap^varing would 
tend to be those which are the latest to appear in nonnal 

" For elaborate discussions, see the symiv»siuin on ** Instinct and 
Intellijience." by C. S. Myers. C. Lloyd Morgan. H. Wildon Carr, 
li. K. Stout and William McDougall. Ihitish J.^unuil of Psy.-hol- 
ooy. vol, iii. loio; "The Relation of histinct and Intelligence," by 
>l." R. Marshall. 1-riiish .^M<r^uJ/ of Psychotoay. vol. v. lOiJ. pp. 24-;- 
J07; and " li\stinct and lt\tclligencc.'* by X. C. Macnatnara. 1015. 

'* " Instincts aTul Emotions of the Feeble-Minded." Journal of 
r sycho-Asthcmcs . vol. v. uxm. pp. v>^kV- 



INvSTINCTS AND EMOTIONS 



99 



children. In general, Wylie's observations tend to confirm 
this supposition, although there are certain exceptions. 
Thus, practically all of the feeble-minded, including idiots, 
showed the instincts of sucking, biting, smiling, and hold- 
ing up the head, carrying to the mouth, sitting up, standing 
and walking, and laughing. Half of the idiots, eighty per 
cent, of the imlx^ciles, and all of the morons, displayed 
anger. All three grades play, in various ways, according 
to intelligence. Idiots play merely by " running around 
and handling things." Sex instincts, very often in a per- 
verted form, were present in one-third of the idiots, in 
from fifty t,o eighty per cent, of the imljeciles, and in all 
the morons. All other instincts were absent in the idiots. 
These include: Fear, present in one-half of the imlxiciles 
and of the morons; affection, as evidenced by the desire 
" to fondle and to be fondled," present in three- fourths 
the imfxiciles and all the morons; shame, present in one- 
third the imlxiciles, and all the morons ; and the instincts 
of imitation, curiosity, acquisitiveness and constructive- 
ness, all found to a greater extent among the morons than 
among the imbeciles. Only the morons manifested grief, 
joy and blushing. 

In spite of the general correspondence between the 
development of intelligence and of instincts, it would 
appear that in certain instances considerable discrepancy 
exists between mental age and what may be termed 
instinctive age. For example, if we may trust Wylie's 
observations, a child may belong in the highest grade of 
the feeble-minded, thus having a mental age of eight or 
over, and yet show an absence of the fundamental emotion 
of fear, which in normal children develops during the 
first few months ; anrl a child may have a mental age of 
four or five years and Ixi lacking in both fear and anger. 



200 COMPLEX MENTAL PROCESSES 

On the other hand, the sex instincts have been noted in 
idiots who are apparently incapable even of hunger. It is 
hard to explain tJiese irregularities. Perhaps they may be 
understood by assuming that fear, except for some pri- 
mary manifestation that has been overlooked, depends 
upon a certain degree of intelligence, some ability to com- 
prehend danger, and that the sexual instinct, which we 
commonly think of as developing only with the age of 
puberty, as a matter of fact makes its appearance at a very 
early age, and is dependent upon physiological develop- 
ment merely for certain changes in the form and effective- 
ness of its manifestations. With these assumptions it may 
be said that the development of instincts in the feeble- 
minded, is, like their intelligence, greatly delayed; that 
on the whole the development of the instincts is closely 
correlated with that of intelligence, but that in individual 
cases marked discrepancies may appear between intelli- 
gence and instinctive equipment — between mental age and 
what we may term instinctive age. 

In spite of the imperfect development of his instincts, 
the feeble-minded child is more of an instinctive animal 
than his normal brother, for his instincts lack the control- 
ling influence exerted by a well-developed intelligence. 
" His life in many cases may be considered as purely 
instinctive. It is on account of these instincts that he 
is oftentimes a menace to himself and to his friends, 
and it is by reason of them that his condition is earli- 
est recognized, and it is to the expression and repres- 
sion of them that the chief part of his education must 
be directed." ^'^ 

In accordance with the general weakness of the 
instincts in feeble-minded children, we find as the most 

" Wylie, op, cit, p. io6. 



WILL 201 

characteristic emotional character of dull and feeble- 
minded children an abnormal indifference. The phleg- 
matic temperament is the most common. This apathetic 
disposition is particularly characteristic of the lower 
grades. On the other hand, cases of exaggeration of 
emotions are not uncommon. An excessive excitability 
is found in all grades of mental retardation, but is more 
marked among the higher grades. Contradictory as it 
may seem, the same child may display both an abnormal 
lack and an abnormal exaggeration of emotion. He may 
be lacking in the finer emotions and sentiments, and at the 
same time suffer an increase in the grosser ones. This 
condition is indeed quite characteristic of persons of 
depleted nervous energy. They evidence little capacity i 
for the higher and more cheerful emotions, an inability 
to be joyous and enthusiastic, and yet at the same time/ 
are very irrita1)le and are easily aroused to such emotions 
as anger and gross sexual love. Mentally retarded chil- 
dren usually appear fairly contented with their lot, and, 
as often remarked, they commonly manifest a considerable 
degree of child-like affection. 

Will. — Emotions and instincts are closely related to 
will. The will is exerted for aims that are at bottom 
instinctive or emotional, in spite of the fact that this is 
usually not recognized by the individual as he acts. At 
the same time, the greatest obstacles to will are instinctive 
tendencies v/hich conflict with the reasoned plans that 
should be carried out. The conquest of disturbing in- 
stincts, or of any other distractions, depends largely upon 
the power of attention, as the latter determines largely to 
what extent one may stick to one plan or purpose to the 
exclusion of others. By will, a term used too loosely 
and variously, I mean very largely effective control 



202 COMPLEX MENTAL PROCESSES 

exerted by attention and reason over natural instinctive 
tendencies. I do not use the term to indicate any mental 
process whatsoever, but merely to indicate the control of 
conduct by the mental processes. By a strong will, I 
mean that the actual behavior of an individual accords 
with the behavior which he anticipates and regards as 
desirable; that his acts are consistent with his conception 
of what is wise and right; that resolutions are not facilely 
broken; and that unreasonable, impulsive or automatic 
acts are properly inhibited. 

Defects of will may be said to be of two sorts, direct 
and indirect. A direct defect is weakness of will, a lacfi 
of persistence, an incapacity to bring about any action 
that requires much effort. An indirect defect is an exag- 
gerated automatism. The two kinds of defect are fre- 
quently associated. 

(i) Persistence. — If weakness of will is extreme, the 
result is simply stupor. In milder cases, actions which 
require any great amount of effort or endurance are 
avoided. There is a feeling of fatigue and lassitude 
which seems to prevent the individual from exerting 
himself. In addition, there is often a certain slowness and 
unsteadiness of movement, and a general lack of enthusi- 
asm. The accompanying mood varies between indiffer- 
ence and discouragement. 

Several tests of will power have been attempted, but 
necessarily, none are entirely satisfactory. They are 
mainly tests of the ability to persist in an action in spite 
of fatigue. One such test, called an achievement capacity 
test, was used by Fernald, resident physician at the Massa- 
chusetts reformatory, as one of a number of tests designed 
to distinguish the responsible from the irresponsible crimi- 



PERSISTENCE 203 

nal.^^ Discussing the mental examination of reform 
school boys, he says : '' That function of the mind called 
will, persistency, determination, pluck or spunk, plays 
too large a part in the successes or failures of these sub- 
jects to be overlooked in an investigation of efficiency. 
It cannot be measured directly, apparently ; but it may be 
measured in terms of voluntary endurance of discomfort." 

The achievement capacity test consists in a measure- 
ment of the time that the subject can stand with his heels 
slightly off the floor. A simple device, consisting of 
levers attached to the plate on which the subject stands, 
enables him to tell by observing a pointer in front of him 
just how nearly his heels come to the ground. Fatigue 
is rapidly induced, in a natural and harmless manner, 
and strength of will is measured by the length of time 
that the subject resists this fatigue and keeps up his heels. 
The chief disturbing factor is the variation between dif- 
ferent subjects in mere physical strength. Fernald believes 
this factor is unimportant because the test involves those 
muscles whose strength most nearly corresponds with 
the body weight, namely, the muscles used to carry and 
support the body. Hence the person with stronger muscles 
usually has a greater weight to support. 

In practice, says Fernald, the theory of the test has 
been found valid. " No subject has fallen exhausted 
muscularly, but eve ^ one voluntarily stepped down and 
walked away, showing that the will to withstand the 
fatigue longer had yielded before the muscles lost power." 
The test was given to one hundred reform school boys, 
and for comparision, to students of the same age in a near- 
by manual training school. The average time that the heels 

""The Defective Delinquent Qass, Differentiating Tests." 
American Journal of Insanity, vol. Ixviii, 1912, pp. 538-541. 



204 



COMPLEX MENTAL PROCESSES 




PERSISTENCE 205 

were kept raised was three times as great for the normal 
group as for the reformatory group, being fifty-two sec- 
onds for the former and only seventeen for the latter. 
Whatever the shortcomings in the test, the results are 
certainly interesting. 

An older and better known test of the ability to per- 
sist in an effort in spite of fatigue is the ergograph test. 
By means of somewhat elaborate apparatus, the test meas- 
ures the ability to continue to raise a heavy weight once 
every second with the middle finger. The other fingers, 
as well as the whole forearm, are firmly clamped in a 
support. The weight is attached to the finger by a cord 
which moves over a pulley, as shown in the accompany- 
ing diagram (Fig. 10). A pointer, attached to the 
cord, scratches on the smoked paper of a rotating drum, 
thus producing a record of the movements of the finger 
in the form of ergograph curves, some of which are 
here reproduced. 

I have found the study of these ergograph curves, and 
of the children making them, so fascinating that I have 
spent many days in obtaining such curves from children 
in the lower grades and in special classes for the mentally 
retarded. Of the large number of curves obtained, the 
few here reproduced (Fig. 11) have been selected 
as typical. It should be stated that the form of curve 
obtained depends upon numerous conditions — the heavi- 
ness of the weight to be Hfted, the strength of the muscles, 
the length of time since the preceding trial, and so forth. 
The curves here presented have been selected with great 
care, so that they should be strictly comparable. 

The mental age (M.A.) and chronological age (C.A.) 
of each child is recorded opposite his curve, so that few 
explanations are necessary. The thing most typical of 



No. 1. 
C. A., 0.5 yra. 
M. A., 7.3 " 



No. 2. 
C. A., 10.0 yrs. 
M. A., 7.0 " 



No. 8. 
C. A., 7.0 yra. 
M. A.. 7.0 •* 



No. 4. 
C. il., 9.6 yrs. 
M. A., 9.3 " 



No. 5. 
C. A., 16.0 yrs. 
M. A.. 10.6 " 




Fig. II.— Children's Ergograph Curves. 



PERSISTENCE 207 

children of low mental age, normal or feeble-minded, is 
that they give up after a few fairly vigorous contractions. 
The effort required, of course, increases very rapidly, but 
adults and older children, with stronger will, do not quit 
suddenly as soon as the effort becomes considerable ; they 
go on, doing the best they can, so that through a con- 
siderable time the curve made by the top of the record 
declines but gradually. Children of the mental ages of 
six to eight, however, give as a typical curve one which 
drops off with extreme suddenness after a few good con- 
tractions. This characteristic cessation of effort is well 
shown in curves Nos. 1-3. The height of the first 
contractions of the curves depends mainly on the size of 
the fingers and so is correlated more with chronological 
and physiological age than with mental age. It is the 
form of the curve, rather than its height, which is signifi- 
cant; and all three of the specified curves, made by chil- 
dren of mental age seven, show the same sudden drop. 

That this characteristic drop in the curve is due to a 
cessation of effort, and not to muscular exhaustion, is 
proven not only by its suddenness, but in many cases by 
the equally sudden reappearance of good contractions. 
Curve No. i represents such a case. After the finger is 
apparently so exhausted that it can scarcely move, it 
suddenly begins to contract as well as it did at the start. 
The contractions again suddenly cease only to rise once 
more. Curves showing this vacillation of will are not at 
all uncommon. They prove that the child is merely mak- 
ing spasmodic efforts and is incapable of persistence to 
the end. He runs no risk of exhausting himself. He is 
like most morons. They cannot be fatigued because they 
will not work long enough. 

Curve No. 4 shows an intermediate stage. While the 



2o8 COMPLEX MENTAL PROCESSES 

little girl who made this curve had the sanie chronological 
age as the mentally retarded boy who made the typical 
curve No. i, she was two years ahead of him in mental 
age. Her curve shows not only somewhat greater strength 
but decidedly more perseverance. Curvx No. 5 is given 
mainly to show contrast. It closely resembles tlie nor- 
mal adult curve. The rapidly sloping part is more nearly 
convex, instead of extremely concave as in the case of the 
mental sevens. The cessation of effort is more gradual. 
It was made by a moron girl ten and a half years old 
mentally and sixteen chronologically. 

(2) Suggestibility and Impulse. — The ergograph 
curves furnish a good demonstration of the lack of sus- 
tained effort, and of the resulting inactivity and feeble 
accomplishment which are the primary symptoms of a 
weak will. These symptoms, however, are seldom the only 
ones. As the exertion of control weakens, various 
medianisms begin to assert themselves on their own 
account, and we have appearing a large variety -of more 
or less abnormal phenomena. These constitute what we 
may call the indirect symptoms, symptoms which some 
psychologists group under the designation of automatisms, 
and which, for the most part, are matters of increased sug- 
gestibility or exaggerated impulsiveness. 

As a rule the feeble-minded at any age, like young, 
normal diildren, are credulous and readily suggestible. 
This, together with their weakness of intellect, makes them 
the easy prey of vicious and evil characters. Various 
interesting methods have been devised for testing sug- 
gestibility. One of these is a line-copying test. The 
subject is shown one at a time a series of lines printed 
on cards. The first three form a series of regularly 
increasing lengths. The remainder all have the same 



SUGGESTIBILITY AND IMPULSE 209 

leng-th as the third line. The subject is asked merely 
to reproduce the length of each line by drawing it on paper. 
The marked and regular increase in length of the first 
three lines serves as a suggestion that the increase will 
continue throughout the scries, so that the subject may 
continue to increase the length of his C(jpies long after 
the increase in length of the lines presented to him has 
stopped. The results sometimes obtained arc almost 




Fig. 12. — vShowing performance in suggestion test. The standard lines, 
from the third on, remained the same in length. 

incredible. Some children act as though they had com- 
pletely forgotten what they were originally told to do, 
and lapse into a state of mind where each line is merely 
a signal to draw one a little longer than the previous one. 
An interesting illustration is that reproduced in figure 
No. 12, showing the performance of a highly suggestible 
moron girl. 

Binet describes a number of other interesting and 
highly amusing tests of suggestibility, adapted to early 
mental ages. One of these is assent without motive to an 
14 



2IO COMPLEX MENTAL PROCESSES 

obscure affirmation or simply to the exclamation, " Isn't 
that so?" The child of seven or eight may promptly 
reply in the affirmative, as though assenting to the state- 
ment of an important fact. At later ages, toward puberty, 
the child remains unmoved, or betrays astonishment and 
asks, " What do you mean? " Binet also gives a test of 
a much bolder sort : 

" We rise, we take a chair and show it to the imbecile. 

Q. What is that? 

A. A chair. 

Q. Serious mistake ! It is not a chair, it is a cork-screw. (A 

pause.) Let us see, what is this? (and we present 

again the chair). 
A. A cork-screw. 

Q. Upon what are you sitting? '' 

A. Upon — a cork-screw. 

" This test succeeds invariably with all our imbeciles, 
even the most rebellious ; and one can believe that it would 
require a very low mentality to thus consent to change the 
name of a very familiar object. It is evident that in a 
company of friends one who attempted to try this experi- 
ment would have very little success." ^^ 

It should of course not be inferred that, in the preced- 
ing experiment, the imbecile was led to perceive the chair 
as a cork-screw or to believe that it was a cork-screw. 
He was merely led to act as though he did. Consequently 
this test, as other suggestion tests, merely makes trial 
of docility. Docility of this sort, however, as Binet 
insists, is a form of suggestibility. " There are," he 
writes, '* two forms of suggestibility which have not been 
sufficiently differentiated: the suggestion of hallucina- 
tions, of ideas, of concepts on the one hand, and the sug- 
gestion of acts, of words, mimicry on the other. Docility 

"Binet and Simon, "The Intelligence of the Feeble-Minded." 
Translation by Kite, 1916, p. 109. 



SUGGESTIBILITY AND IMPULSE 211 

is a suggestibility which shows itself simply in acts, 
words, attitudes. . . . It is not the reason of the agent 
which bends, it is his will, his character. One may have 
suggestibility of character without having suggestibility 
of reason." "^^ 

An exaggerated automatism may show itself in impul- 
siveness as well as in suggestibility. Impulsiveness may 
be of either of two widely different types : the emotional, 
and the unemotional or mechanical. In the emotional 
type, the individual shows signs of driving power, but 
the power is not under control. The impulses may not 
be particularly strong, but they sway the conduct of the 
individual because of the weakened power of inhibition. 
In the mechanical type, we see simply the effects of the 
activity of an unenergetic nervous system, functioning 
according to whatever habits the individual has happened 
to acquire, with a total absence of attentive reflection or 
of any reasoned purpose. 

Of the emotional types of impulsiveness, violent dis- 
plays of temper are among the most common. Quarrel- 
ling and fighting and generally disorderly conduct, some- 
times criminal in nature, may be the result. In other 
cases, there is inability to inhibit immoral impulses. It 
is said that every feeble-minded girl is a potential prosti- 
tute. The sexual impulses may not be as strong as in 
the normal individual, but on account of the weakened will 
and heightened suggestibility they control the course of 
conduct. Again, the individual may be a victim of 
peculiar antisocial impulses. These morbid impulses dis- 
play great variety. Some are exceedingly serious ; a recur- 
rent tendency to steal, for instance, to set things on fire, 

^'^ Op. cit., p. 119. 



212 COMPLEX MENTAL PROCESSES 

to destroy property or to mutilate or kill animals or 
human beings. 

In the unemotional type of impulsiveness, the auto- 
matism consists in acts, often of a silly nature, repeatedly 
executed in a purely mechanical fashion. Children may 
constantly echo the movements or words of another. Bit- 
ing the nails, drumming on the desk v^ith the fingers, or 
muttering some phrase over and over again, are exceed- 
ingly common habits in all grades of children. Certain 
stereotyped performances may be persisted in day after 
day, and year after year. The majority of imbeciles 
whom I have observed show these peculiar habits. One 
such, whose duty it was to shove all day long a floor 
polisher along the hall in front of a room which I occupied 
one summer, had the habit, when no one was watching 
(so far as he knew) of taking one step forward and then 
one step backward, in a more or less swinging or dancing 
style. He continued, during this performance, to hold 
the handle of his floor polisher, but in such a way that 
the polisher itself remained stationary. I can testify 
that these movements were repeated without interruption 
for over an hour, and I suspect that as a regular thing 
fully one-half of this imbecile's working day was devoted 
to these strange exercises. 






CHAPTER XI 

MENTAL ORGANIZATION 

The Problem of the Interrelationship of Mental 
Traits. — The brightness of a child does not depend upon 
his abihty in any one respect. A child is by no means 
of superior intelligence simply because he can draw well, 
or because he is good at rolling a hoop or playing marbles, 
or even because he can learn his multiplication table with 
exceptionally little study. As repeatedly pointed out, 
intelligence is the capacity for success in performances 
in general. It includes all the capacities for the hundreds 
and thousands of different things which a human being 
can do. As soon as this is admitted, the question at once 
arises : Are all these hundreds and thousands of capacities 
separate? Do they vary so independently of each other, 
that the degree of perfection of one is in no way an 
index to the degree of perfection of the others? 

I know of no writer so extreme as to insist that there 
is utter lack of relationship between the different per- 
formances of which a human being is capable. It is true 
that Thorndike, one of the world's most eminent educa- 
tional psychologists, has been accused of taking this stand. 
Binet writes that according to Thorndike, the mind is a 
vast multitude of absolutely unlike faculties, existing side 
by side, but remaining rigorously independent.^ Binet's 
citation, however, somewhat exaggerates Thorndike's 
views. A more just conception of his position is given 
by the following quotation: '' Almost any, if not any, one 

* " Les idees modernes sur les enf ants," 1909, p. 242. 

213 



214 MENTAL ORCANIZATION 

(hint;" in ihc mind may happen in partial independence of 
ahuost any, if mU any, other thini;-." " lU)\\ever, it can 
hardly he denied that Thorndike at times approaches 
sc^methini;- very near an atomistic theory of mind, a theory, 
that is, that mind is merely a collection of a vast number 
of extremely minute functions, each of which is complete 
in itself, althoni;h united to others by more or less mys- 
terious ** bontls." .\s atoms, he uses a miscellaneous 
assortment of feelin<;s, acts, ** connections," ** capacities" 
and " abilities." This opinion considers mind to be merely 
an a^^i;loniera.tion or "sum ti^al " of "an individual's 
feelini;s and acts, of the connections Ivtween outside 
events and his responses thereto, and of the possibilities 
of having" such feelings, acts, and connections." '^ Tie 
holds that '* the mind is a host of highly particularized and 
independeiU abilities: " ** and emphasizes the independence 
of these innumerable mental jn'ocesses. h^ven so, Thorn- 
dike is far from Ix^lieving that there is no relationship 
or interdependence between the innumerable specific men- 
tal acts. Indeed, all authors have admitted some sort of 
interrelationship of mental pnu'csses. scmhc degree of men- 
tal organizaticMi or unity of mind; and it is the problem 
of the present chapter to discuss the nature of this 
organization. 

Three Psychological Theories of Mental Organiza- 
tion. — rhc problem has had a long and devious history^ 
which is worth briefly reviewing. Early psychology 
assiuned that mental processes were largely manifestations 
of the activities of the sotil. Starting with the distinction 
made by Aristotle Ix^tween the ** rational '' soul and the 
" animal " soul, philosophers finally arrived at the classi- 

*** Educational PsvchologT," UX13. p. j8. 
'0^ <•/■/.. 1010. p. 188. 
V>/>, cil., ny\\, p. 30. 



THEORIES OF MENTAL ORGAN IZA^ITON 215 

cal triple distinction of the three faculties oi knowing, 
feeling, and willing/' Each oi these was a manner of 
]>erforming, a mode of activity, possessed by the soul. 
Whenever one exj>eriencecl an emotion, his soul was 
exerting its faculty for feeling, and whenever one per- 
ceived anything, its faculty f(jr knowledge, sometimes 
called the faculty of cognitic^n or intellect. Of course 
all such explanatioTis of mental processes as faculties of 
the soul were unsound and futile. Very largely, how- 
ever, they seem, to have been intended to descrilx.* the minrl, 
to state the different kinds of things the mind does. 1'he 
three great faculties of knowing, feeling anrl willing were 
soon sulxlivided into many sulx>rdinate ones, until finally 
the number of subf acuities was quite large. 

The classical doctrine of the three faculties meant sim- 
ply this: First, that every mental act could be classified 
under r;ne of these three headings — intellect, feeling, and 
will ; second, that all the acts included under any one 
of these headings were due to the activity of a single 
factor. Thus every act of perceiving or judging was to 
some extent due to the functioning of one faculty or 
capacity. The ancient view of this faculty as a capacity 
of the s^ml has no significance; the fundamental thought 
is little modified if we substitute brain for soul; Ix^cause 
the crucial idea is merely that all similar mental acts derive 
their characteristics in part, though not entirely, from a 
single, unitary factor, from one condition or set of con- 
ditions. Thus stated, the faculty psychology contains 
a germ of truth ; that is why it has Ix^en " so easy to scotch, 
but hard to kill." 

After a long and flourishing existence, the faculty 

• See Dessoir, " Geschichte der neuere deutschen Psychologie," 
vol. i, pp. 196-381. 



2i6 I^IENTAL ORGANIZATION 

psychology' finally fell into disrepute. Curiously enough, 
the really serious arguments against it are of two quite 
opposite sorts and lx)th are tenable. On the one hand, 
faculty psychology- is said to be at fault because it divides 
the mental life into isolated compartments independent of 
each other, whereas in reality the mental life is unitary. 
Man is one, not three. ** We do not tliink and only think 
in one moment, and will in another, and feel in yet 
another. There is no experience which is now^ intellective, 
now volitional — and at another moment, affective. The 
unitary experience may not he broken up thus. Any jxm*- 
tion of concrete experience, select it by what nile we may, 
is a thinking — feeling — willing experience." ^ 

The other objection to the faculty theory, made by 
men, who, like Thorndike, emphasize the relative inde- 
pendence of each specific mental act, is that no such thing 
as a faculty exists, because each act dift'ers from all the 
others, even when it may Ix^ classified under the same 
heading. It is pointed out that a person may have a good 
memory for faces with a lx\d one for naines : that he may 
listen attentively to an orchestral symphony and dream 
through a lecture on mathematics: that he may reason 
well in one line of business and poorly in another. There 
is no faculty of memor\' as such, these authors say. because 
one thing may be remembered while another is forgotten. 
*' There is no one memory," writes Thorndike, ^' to hold 
in a unifonnly tight or loose grip all the experiences of 
the past. There are only the particular coimections 
between particular mental events and others, sometimes 
resulting in great surety of revival, sometimes in little." " 

•Fletcher. "Introduction to Philosophy." 1913, p. 209. 
' " Educational Psycholog}'," lOio, p. iSS. 



TTTEOPTF/; OF JiPAJK ACTION 217 

Here, iIk.)], arc three distinct psychological thf^jries. 
'I lie oldest and ixrrhaps the most influential is the doctrine 
(A farultics, the drjctrine that certain mental processes 
are alike in some import;mt respect, and inihw-n^^d, deter- 
mined in character, U) iV^me extent, by a sijj;^de f;u:tor. 
Also, there is the doctrine of unity oi mental life, which 
may he carried U) the point of excluding any possibility 
of s<:parate faculties. 'I'he third view, extensively a/lvo- 
caled at j)resent, is that ear:h mental pnxx*ss is s/j emphati- 
cally unrelated to any oIIxt that to reganl any large 
j-^rouji of menial pro(:ess<:s as l><:inj( controlled \)y the same 
factor is misleading. This doctrine cr^ntends fr^r menUil 
disorrj(mt"ation, and accordinr'^ I0 it. tlj<', d'-fT'c of inter- 
relationship 1/ttween menial ]>rocesses of the same class 
is not suffieient to justify any ^(roupin^ of tliem tof^ether 
as dep^'ud'Jil Ujjon a sinrde raj>arity. 

Corresponding Theories of Hrain Action. — isach of 
the three psyeholo;/ieal theories of mental or^anizatif>»n 
has its parallel the/^ry of brain. Ji/lion. The docXrmc 
(jf faculties, in an exaggc*rate<l fornj, fr;nnd its ojunter- 
]>art in the theories r^f phrenolo;.dsts. 'i he phrenologists 
busied themselves with findinr^ the brain ** seats " of the 
farulties recognized by tlif. jjsyrhrjjogisls, just as two 
centuries Ix^Tore a great i^rencli philosopher ha/1 found 
a seat for the s<^ju], in a little prrAulxrranx:e of the brain 
known as the pineal gland, lx:tween the cc*rebral hemis- 
j^heres. Gall, tlie famous founder of phrenology, did nr;t 
believe in the possibility of locating the ^ju\ itself, but he 
thrjught he could discover the seat of its various faculties. 
Of these faculties or aptitudes he recognized n/j less than 
twenty-seven. I ie hehl tliat each one was dependent upon 
the activity of a particular area of the cr^rtex, and fur- 



2i8 MENTAL ORGANIZATION 

tlier, that the developineiit of each area of tlie cortex 
could be judged from tlie external shape of the skull/'^ 

Phrenolog)' has never met with scientific sanction. It 
very soon gave way to a theory which held that the brain 
functioned as a whole in the case of each specific mental 
act, aiid asserted, on the basis of numerous experiments 
in which portions of the brains of animals were removed, 
that there was no special seat for each of the mental 
functions. One part of the brain did not function in 
smelling, another in seeing, and yet another in willing; 
but the same parts, in fact, all parts, could in succession 
do all of these things. Removal of one part of the brain, 
it was claimed, instead of bringing about the loss of one 
particular ability or faculty, resulted in a general impair- 
ment of all mental functions. This doctrine that the 
whole brain was a single unitaiT organ of intelligence may 
be regarded as the physiological equivalent of the psyclio- 
logical theory of the unity of mind. 

The theory, however, that all parts of the brain had 
the same function finally gave way before the results 
of remarkable experiments performed during the latter 
part of the nineteenth century. These experiments called 
forth a doctrine of the specialization in function by 
different parts of the brain, kno\\ii as the doctrine of 
cortical localization. Localization of a particular mental 
process in any part of the brain means simply that the 
part in question must be active whenever tliat mental 
process occurs. It does not mean that other parts of 
the brain never cooperate with the centre in which a given 

' *' L'anatomie et la physiologie du systcme nerveux ; en generalet 
du cerveau en particulier. avec des observations sur la possibilite 
de reconnaitre plnsiers dispositions intellectuelles et morales de 
I'homme et des animanx par la configuration de leur tete," 4 vols., 
Paris, 1810-1818. 



THEORIES OF BRAIN ACTION 219 

function is said to be localized. Thus, to say that vision 
has its seat in the extreme rear of the cerebral cortex, 
in the occipital lobes, means no more than that whenever 
one sees, the brain cells in this region are active. 

Investigation has now localized all the senses in some 
part of the cortex. For example, the centre for vision has 
been discovered in the rearmost part of the cortex, in 
the occipital lobes, through experiments by Munk and 
others, which proved that removal of both occipital lobes 
in the monkey causes- complete blindness. Hearing has 
been definitely localized in the temporal lobes of the cor- 
tex, lying just within the temple, and the cutaneous and 
muscular senses, which give sensations from the skin and 
muscles, in a long convolution extending along the side 
of the brain. It has been found, moreover, that certain 
regions, situated just in front of the cortical seat of cuta- 
neous and muscular senses, could be stimulated by elec- 
tricity, so that particular muscles contracted. These 
regions have been named the " motor area." They are 
composed of the brain cells connected through nerves with 
the muscles; whereas the sensory areas — the seats of the 
various senses — are made up of the brain cells connected 
with the sense organs through sensory nerves. The sensory 
areas receive nervous currents from the sense organs, while 
the motor areas send nervous currents out to the muscles. 
In man, the sensory and motor areas do not include more 
than about one-third of the whole cortex. The general 
function of the remaining two-thirds is the coordination 
of incoming currents with outgoing ones. Such a state- 
ment of function is decidedly vague, of course, serving 
to do little other than conceal ignorance. 

The localization of sensory and motor areas in the 
cortex has been unquestionably established, an accom- 



220 MENTAL ORGANIZATION . 

plishment that ranks high in modem science. Its inipU- 
cations, however, have frequently been exaggerated. 
Some writers have taken it to mean that each ditlerent 
mental process — a sensation, a memory, a judgment, or 
what not — involves exclusively a particular set of ners'C 
cells. This misinterpretation renders the theory of corti- 
cal localization a counteqxirt of psychological atomism. 

The Evidence from Correlations. — A brief account has 
now been given of three widely divergent views of the 
mind's mechanism. The first considers mind to be a 
combination of faculties, or manifestations of faculties; 
the second regards it as a homogeneous unit, or the mani- 
festation of a imitar)' soul ; the third Mieves it to be a 
mosaic of iimumerable elementary processes. The lirst is 
the multifocal theory; the second, the unifocal: and the 
third, the non-focal. Each has its cotinterpart in a theor>' 
of brain action. 

For the purpose of judging between the three, psycho- 
logists have carefully examined the correlations between 
different mental traits. Because each theorv' implies dif- 
ferent relationships between mental traits, the determina- 
tion of these relationships should establish one of the 
three as correct. The rapid multiplication of mental tests 
during recent years has been of great service in this con- 
nection. These tests measure innumerable traits. Just 
what relationship between the measurements of the^e 
traits is implied by eacli of the three news of mental 
organization? 

According to the multifocal theory, mental tests of 
the same general function or faculty should correlate more 
closely than tests of different faculties. Thus several 
different memor>' tests given to a large group of cliildren 
should correspond more closely with each other than 



EVIDENCE FROM CORRELATIONS 221 

should a memory test with a test of sensory discrimination, 
reasoning, or attention. 

According to the second theory, the non-focal, no cor- 
relation at all should appear between any two tests except 
in so far as they involve identical elements. The fact that 
one child has a better memory for spoken numbers than 
another, would not, under this theory, indicate that he 
has also a better memory for printed numl>ers. There 
should, moreover, be no greater correlation betvvcn two 
different memory tests than between a memory test and a 
test of attention, because in all cases the correlation should 
l)e practically zero, if, as the non-focal theory states, all 
mental traits are unrelated. 

According to the third theory, the unifocal, the corre- 
lation between different tests is due entirely to some single 
general factor. Extreme versions of this theory require 
the correlations between all mental tests to be perfect. 
Since all mental traits are but manifestations of the 
working of a unitary mind, according to the unifocal 
theory, if one child's mind is better than that of another 
in any one specific trait, it should be correspondingly 
better in every other. The different theories of the mind's 
constitution thus imply different degrees of correspond- 
ence or correlation between the various mental traits; 
consequently, it is by the study of correlations that they 
must be compared. 

The correlations first obtained seemed to support the 
non-focal theory. They were so low in most cases as to 
suggest little or no correspondence between any two 
mental abilities. Thus, Wissler, who published the re- 
sults of the tests given for many years to the freshmen 
of Columbia University, came to the conclusion that al- 
though the markings of students in college classes corre- 



aaa MENTAL ORGANIZATION 

late with each other to a considerable vlei;ree, thev do not 
bear out the mental tests, nor do the mental tests show 
nuioh correlation uith each other.'' 

To a considerable e:xtent the correlations found at tirst 
\vere low Ixvause of inaccurate measurements and 
inadt\|uate statistical niethods.^^^ V^en from the tirst, 
however, the correlations obtained were far from Ix^ing 
as low as the non-focal theory' demandeii. With improve- 
ment in tests, in the nuuiner of pviuj^- them and in the 
statistical methods of c;ilciilating" the correlations, it has 
gradually Wcome establisluxi that even quite dissimilar 
tests may sliow a ver>- decided correlation. With a lan^e 
group of individuals, scytnc degree of corresiXMidence ap- 
pears Ixnween their ranking"s in otie test ajui in any other 
test. Plainly, memal abilities are related. At the same 
time, no two tests give results that correspond per- 
fectly: so that while mental abilities are related, they are 
partially independent. 

This state of att'airs evidently cannot Ix" s;itisfactorily 
explained by any one of the three theories of mental 
org-anization under discussion. Some more flexible theory 
is evidently rei]uired. which will take into account the 
complexity of the conditions detennining any panicular 
mental ability. Such a theory- has recently been proposevl 
by Spearman, and is now widely known tmder the name 
of the tw\>-factor theory. It is immensely itnportant, and 
must consequently tx^ exajuinet.! in detail. Certain modi- 
fications may then Ix^ suggested, which seem necessary 

to adapt the doctrine to all the facts Ixxtriiig upon it. 
1- ■ ■ ■ ■ — ■ " 

•Wissler. "The Correlation of M:ental and Physical Tests.** 
Ps-ych.^l\7!ral /vA'it-jf. .U.^tooai/"/! Sui^t^i't'tents. vol. iil No. 6, uxm. 
" '^^ See Speamian. ** ' General Intellisrence ' Objectively Determined 
and ^feasured." Amcn^iin .K^urftal c>f Fsy.'h^^l.^ijy.xol. xv. pp. j-\:--^:5. 



SPEARMAN'S TWO-FACTOR THEORY 223 

Spearman's Two- Factor Theory. — Spearman's theory 
amounts to a combination of the non- focal and unifocal 
theories, conceding, in a way, the truth of both. On the 
other hand. Spearman finds no validity whatever in the 
multifocal theory. His opinion is ''that a person's suc- 
cess in any intellectual performance may ]jt regarded as 
the joint product of two factors/' 

" The one is * specific aWlity ' for the performance in 
question, with all its particular features. The second is 
' general ability.' " " While the range of the specific 
factor is exceerlingly narrow, that of the general factor 
is universal; and lx:tween these two there appears to be 
no intermediate." ^^ 

It should be observed that Spearman's theory is not 
a theory of the functions of the soul, but simply a state- 
ment concerning the conditions which determine the 
nature, and more especially the efficiency, of any mental 
act. It considers that these conditions manifest two 
degrees of generality. In the first place, there are certain 
conditions that have to do with the efficiency of one men- 
tal act but of no other. These are specific abilities. In 
addition, however, there is a general factor, which 
influences the efficiency of all mental acts. This is gen- 
eral ability. Neither specific ability nor general ability 
are mental processes; they are conditions of mental proc- 
esses, that is, factors determining the efficiency of mental 
processes. The success of a mental act never depends 
upon either specific or general ability alone, but always 
upon both. 

Spearman applies to mental phenomena a principle that 
is indubitably applicable to physical phenomena. For 

" Hart and Spearman, " Mental Tests of Dementia." Journal of 
'Abnormal Psychology, vol. iv, 1914, pp. 219-221. 



224 MENTAL ORGANIZATION 

example, let us consider the strength of tlie thumb and of 
the tliigh. Each is influenced by factors tliat cannot affect 
the other, such as the development of specific muscles. 
The muscles of the thumb may be impaired without in- 
jury to tliose of the thigh. At the same time the strength 
of both is influenced by a more general factor, one affect- 
ing the strength not only of these two parts of the body 
but of all regions — the condition of tlie blood. A man 
may have a strong thumb and at the same time be weak in 
the legs, but his strength in both regions must suffer 
from a fever. 

It is immediately apparent that all events and their 
characteristics are caused by conditions of varying extent 
and influence. The price of potatoes is affected by spe- 
cific factors, which have no effect upon prices of wheat 
or beans; but more general factors, such as war, join 
these specific factors in determining the price of potatoes 
and other commodities as well. The price of potatoes is 
not determined solely by war, the general factor, nor by 
the success with which potato bugs are exterminated, a 
specific abilities in the case of mental performances, he 
factors and others, acting simultaneously. 

Spearman's theory merely insists upon the existence 
of both general and specific factors; it does not explore 
the exact nature of these factors. Nevertheless he offers 
suggestions in detail, in order to clarify his theory. Of 
specific abilities in the case of mental performances, he 
gives the following illustration : 

" Suppose," he says, " that a schoolboy has surpassed 
his fellows in the observation of birds' nests. His victory 
has, no doubt, depended in part on his capacity for the 
general form of mental activity known as * observation.* 
But it has also depended on his being able to apply this 



SPEARMAN'S TWO-FACTOR THEORY 225 

form of activity to the matter of birds' nests; had the 
question been of tarts in the pastry cook's window, the 
laurels might well have fallen to another boy. A fur- 
ther influence must have been exercised by the accompany- 
ing circumstances : to spy out nests as they lie concealed 
in foliage is not the same thing as to make observations 
concerning them in the open light of a natural history 
museum. Again, to discover nests at leisure is different 
from doing so under the severe speed limits prescribed 
by the risk of an interrupting gamekeeper. The boy's 
rank may even depend largely on the manner of estimating 
merit; marks may be given either for the gross number 
or for the rarity of the nests observed ; and he who most 
infallibly notes the obvious construction of the house- 
sparrow may not be the best at detecting the elusive hole 
of the kingfisher. Every one of these features of the 
observation, then — and their number might be indefinitely 
extended — must be considered as capable of influencing the 
success of our hypothetical boy; one and all constitute 
elements of the ' specific ability ' concerned. Any per- 
formance may have a large or small proportion of such 
elements in common with another performance ; in other 
words, the specific ability for the one may have much 
or little overlapping with that for the other." ^^ 

When specific elements so overlap that two perform- 
ances are almost identical, *' a person's success in one of 
them must give probability of success in the other also, 
and the two performances must become highly correlated 
with one another." When, however, two performances 
are so different that there is little or no overlapping of 
specific abilities, the correlation between them is due 

" Hart and Spearman, op. cit., pp. 219-220. 
15 



226 MENTAL ORGANIZATION 

entirely to the general factor, a factor \\hich intluences 
all performances. 

Although he is certain that a general mental factor 
exists. Spearman is doubtful of its exact nature. He 
refers to it as a common fund of intellective energy, and 
considers it closely connected with the capacity for vivid 
awareness or attention. Whatever the nature of the 
general factor, it contrasts sharply with mechanical habit. 
The highest correlations with intelligence are produced 
by performances requiring the most attention. ^^^ It is 
true that in the case of morons, the most mechanical tests, 
such as mere rate of tapping, show well-nigh as much 
correlation as tlie more intellectual — as the interpretation 
of pictures for instance.^"* Spearman explains this by 
the fact that at a level of ability as low as that of mentally 
defective children, not even the simplest tasks are thor- 
oughly enough mastered to Income mechanical. 

Having observed that mental ability is a matter of 
attention rather than of mere mechanical skill. Spearman 
proceeds to point out that one of the most remarkable 
dilYerences Ix'tween an attentive activity and a purely me- 
chanical activity is that the latter does not interfere with 
simultaneous activities. More than one non-mechanized 
activity, on the contrary, cannot be carried on at once with 
success. One's first efforts to ride a bicycle require atten- 
tion, and consequently they occupy the mind fully ; in time, 
however, the performance becomes practically mechanical, 
so that the rider is able to look freely about him, to pon- 
der over problems, or to light a cigarette. Now, if the 
attentive activities are thus distinguished from the 
mechanical by acute competition with one another, plainly 

"Burt. British Journal of Psychology, 1909, p. 167. 
"Abelson, British Journal of Psychology. 191 1, p. 300. 



SPEARMAN'S TWO-FACTOR THEORY 227 

they are competing for something; if the perfection of a 
non-mechanized activity can occur only at the expense 
of all other activities, the conclusion is unavoidable that all 
these manifestations of energy are derived — to some 
extent, at least — from a general fund. Thus Spearman 
ajncludes that his general factor may very well Ixi the 
general funrl of brain energy possessed by the individual. 

The two-factor theory, although primarily psychologi- 
cal, has, like other theories of mental organization, its 
physiological counterpart. The specific elements of men- 
tality may be identified v^ith the efficiency of particular 
cortical regions or particular chains of nerve cells, whereas 
the general factor corresponds to the efficiency of the 
entire cortex. Spearman, with the great majority of 
contemporary psychologists and physiologists, believes it 
to be well established that " each momentary focus of 
cortical activity receives continual support from energy 
liberated by the entire cortex." 

Ihe matter is put very clearly by Pillsbury, in a recent 
textbook : " When we speak of the action of a single group 
of cells," he writes, '' it is probable that the group is 
merely the centre of excitation in a very wide region. 
The excitation that arouses that group spreads to very 
remote parts of the brain. Action is always of large 
masses of nerve-cells, but of the mass, certain portions 
are emphasized, the others acting in very much slighter 
degree. There is a complicated interplay of part and 
part throughout a very large portion of the mass of 
neurones, although only a relatively few are in great 
activity. . . . Each contributes its share to the total 
action, although one alone stands out prominently." ^-^ 

""Essentials of Psychology," 1916, p. 43. 



228 MENTAL ORGANIZATION 

I was similarly convinced concerning the functioning 
of the cortex by experiments showing the speed with which 
a person can move his lingers in response to the cessation 
of a light or a sound. ** The explanation of the experi- 
mental data," it was stated, ** seems to require us to regard 
the central nervous system as not merely a network of 
paths, but also as the seat of a comple:x system of inter- 
related activities and potential energies wJiicJi is disturbed 
tliroughout by any change in any part of the system." ^^ 
*' There is energy, the intimate nature of which we must 
admit is as yet unknown, present in tlie central nervous 
system. It is probable that this energy is of an electrical 
nature, and that it involves many, if not all, of tlic neur- 
ones of the central nervous system. The condition within 
any one neurone is to be thought of as interrelated with 
tlie condition of all tlie others, so that there is always 
involved an immensely complicated and widespread system 
of energies, including, perhaps, both potential cliemical 
energies and electrical activities." -^^ 

A disturbance occurring at any one point in the cortical 
system of energies brings about a readjustment of the 
whole, which readjustment may release energy on die 
motor side and produce bodily movement. Every mental 
operation, then, as Spearman points out, requires two 
tilings : *' First, a specific activity of a particular sys- 
tem of neural structures; and, secondly, the concurrence 
of neural energy from the whole, or a large part, of 
the cortex." ^' 

The present work does not permit discussion of all 

"Woodrow, "Reactions to the Cessation of Stimuli and Their 
Nervous Mechanism." Psychological Review, vol. xxii, 1915, p. 451. 
" Op. cit., p. 446. 
" Hart and Spearman, op. cit, p. 72. 



A MULTIFACTOR THEORY 229 

the proofs presented by Spearman in support of his theory. 
Certainly they are impressive. In spite of the fact that 
his theory is still on trial/^ it probably comes closer to the 
truth than any theory of mental organization proposed 
to date. Its particular merit is its emphasis upon the ex- 
istence of general ability. 

Spearman hesitates to identify this general ability 
with general intelligence, Ijut in all likelihood his theory 
will eventually narrow to a theory of intelligence, a theory, 
that is, applying only to performances that are correlated 
with intelligence. 

A Multifactor Theory. — Notwithstanding its great 
value, Spearman's two-factor theory is undeniably in 
need of one fundamental alteration, as well as minor 
modifications. As I have said, it combines elements of 
the non- focal and unifocal theories, holding the conditions 
which determine the efficiency of any mental act to be al- 
ways one of two degrees of generality — either very spe- 
cific or very general. Now it is probably much nearer the 
truth to say that efficiency is determined by conditions of 
all degrees of generality than to limit these conditions to 
two degrees of generality. At any rate, the evidence at 
hand clearly shows that there are conditions intermediate in 
generality between the very specific and the very general. 

Does not an accurate view of the constitution of intel- 
ligence, then, coinbine all three theories of mental organi- 
zation, the unifocal, the multifocal and the non-focal? 
Such a theory regards the conditions of success in any 
act of intelligence as being of at least three degrees 

" See McCall, " Correlation of Some Psychological and Educa- 
tional Measurements." Teachers College, Columbia University, Con- 
tributions to Education, No. 79, 1916, pp. 56-59. Also King, " The 
Relationship of Abilities in Certain Mental Tests to Ability, as Esti- 
mated by Teachers." School and Society, vol. v, 191^, p. 209. 



230 MENTAL ORGANIZATION 

of gcnemlity. namely, very geiienil. quasi-general and 
very specific. 

Just what the intennediato faculties are is a problem 
Avhose ejKperimental solution has only begun. Recent 
work indicates the existence of a general nieinory ability.'-'^ 
Although not certain that the general capacity for atten- 
tion is different from Spearman's general factor. 1 Ivlieve 
that I have demonstrated that there is a general capacity 
for attention>'^ There is evidence also of a general capac- 
ity for imagination.*- Thonulike. contradicting his earlier 
views, now refers to the mental '* levels " of sensitivity, 
association and analysis,-^ By ** levels " he means exactly 
what others mean by getieral capacities or faculties, 
namely, that two tests of the same function or level will 
correlate more closely than two tests of different mental 
functions or levels. 

To speak of a general memory ability, or faculty of 
memor}'. does not mean of course that this general ability 
is the only condition of successful rememlvring. There 
are in addition specific conditions which vary in the case 
of each different thing to be remetnbered. as well as the 
gener:il intelligence factor. Thus a good memor)' for 
faces mav accompany a bad one for names. Each act 
of memor}- involves certain factors which partially differ- 
entiate it from every other. Nevertheless. ditYerent mem- 
ory t^sts correlate with each other more than tests chosen 

** Carey. " Factors in the Mental Processes of School Children," 
part ii. '* On the Nature of the Specific Mental Factors." British 
Jountiil of rs\L'hohH]\'. vol. viii. 1015. p. So. 

*^ '* The Faculty of Attention." /ournal of Exf>enm<'ntal Psy- 
chology, vol. i, ipiO. pp. JS5-31S. 

" Heymans and Brugmans. " hitelligenzpriifungen niit Studi- 

erenden." Zeitschrift fur angcuKvidtc Psychologic, vol. vii, 1913. 

pp. 317-331. 

""Educational Psjxholog)'," revised edition. loio. pp. 190-191. 



A MULTIFACTOR THEORY 231 

at random. Consequently it is correct to speak of a 
person's general memory ability. His memory may in 
general be good, although for some things it is much 
Ixitter than for others. 

The theory at which we finally arrive, then, as the 
only one suited to all the facts, may be termed a multif ac- 
tor theory, contending that the factors determining the 
nature of any mental event, like those determining any 
other event, l^long to many different degrees of general- 
ity. The cause of anything is the sum total of the con- 
ditions producing it; and these conditions always show 
an indefinite number of degrees of generality. For practi- 
cal purposes of the psychology of intelligence, the factors 
determining the efficiency of any particular performance 
may be classified, no doubt, under one of the three head- 
ings : specific, general and quasi-general. Factors of at 
least these three degrees of generality always cooperate. 
Our multi factor theory, then, at once combines the three 
old theories — the non- focal, the unifocal and the multi- 
focal — and endows each with a more elastic utility. 



CHAPTER XTT 

iii'Ui'Pi rv 

Definition of Hcrcdiiy and Knviianmcnt. — All c'w- 
cuinst.UK-cs whu-h ilotonuinc uh.it .i Inunan Ivini; is. or 
what lio shall Ivconio. tuav Ix^ i;Tou|H\l uuilor two head- 
in i;s : otwironniont and horoihty. I'.vcrv child orii^inates 
in the nnion ot two i^eiininal colls, the ovnni oi the 
teniale and the sperniato/oon c^t the male: conseqnently. 
all that he ever becomes de|>ends npon the orii;inal natnre 
of these two cells or else npon the intlnences \Yhich act 
npon them. .\ny trait that is dne to the natnre of the 
i;ermin.\l cells is the resnlt iW" hcrcvlity : while any trait dne 
to inthiences aciini; npon these cells as they develop into a 
man or wonum is canscvl by environment. 

.Vn individnal need not resemble either of his paretUs 
with respect to a s;iveti trait in order that we may con- 
sider tlun trait inherited, b'or example, a child tnay owe 
the color oi his bine eyes to hercvlity. and have brown- 
eved p.nents. Pmt the tr.m in ipiestion mnst Iv dne to 
the natnre of the i;erm cells contribnted by the parents. 
Similarly, any trait which is lackin^^- Ixvanse of the 
ak^ence of something;' in the i;enn cells, and not Ivcanse 
of any defect in the environmei\t. is lackini^' becanse 
of hercvhty. 

It is trne that the presence of any trait is never entirely 
canscvl by either heredity or environment, bnt always by 
K^tii. S.'ff.r environment, at least favorable etionj^h to 
maintain life, mnst always exist. The tuvessity of a suit- 
able environment is especially evident ii\ the case of mental 



HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT 233 

traits, since few, if any, mental traits are present even at 
lliat relatively advanced stage of development marked 
hy birth. Hiit the nervous system is present at birth, 
and the nature f>f mental traits that later develop depends 
ui>on the nature and development of the nervous system. 
The nervous system in turn depends upon the original 
germ plasm as well as upon the action of environmental 
factors. Thus, indirectly, mental traits rruiy be clue to 
heredity, and it is quite conceiva];le that they are de- 
termined by heredity to the same extent as are many 
physical traits. 

In view of the intimate relation lx:tween heredity and 
environment, it seems at first impossible to determine 
whether the cause of any mental ability or disability lies in 
heredity or in. c*nvironment. It has lx*en established, 
iHjwever, in many cases, that certain mental defects could 
not have l>een avoided under any environmental condi- 
tions, and that certain mental abilities would have Ixien 
manifest in any ordinary or ** normal " environment. 

The meaning of " normal environment " must be kept 
in mind throughout a discussion oi the inheritance of 
mental traits. A normal environment signifies any that 
will allow an innate tendency to develop. For example, 
a child niay l>e formed from the union of germ cells of 
such nature that, given a certain c^nvironment, he will 
develop a high degree of musical ability. Musical ability 
here me^ms talent for Ixicoming a musician under proper 
training. Obviously, everyone has not this ability tr> 
any marked rlegrec. Now, it may \xt found that (;nly 
those children whose cnvironmcmt displays certain charac- 
teristics liave this j)otential musical skill. On the contrary, 
we may find that environments can vary enormously with- 
out affecting the capacity of children dwelling in them 



234 HEREDITY 

to respond to a musical cdiicatioti. In that case, musical 
alvility ^vouUl l)c licrcclitary. At the same time, an abnor- 
mal environment would clearly hamper the development 
of mnsicxU ability. Partial starvation in early life, con- 
linement in a dungeon, or severe injuries to the brain 
would prove fatal to such development. Thus an ex- 
tremely abnormal environment could prevent the develop- 
ment of musical capacity, in spite of the stronj^est heredi- 
tary tendencies. To call any environment nonnal which is 
not extremely abnormal may seem too vague a conception, 
but it is necessarily inclusive. Hence, to tenn a capacity 
hereditary means that its development will dejKud upon 
heredity only providing environmental conditions are 
** nonnal." 

Methods of Investigation. — The part played by hered- 
ity in the determination of an individuiil's mentality has 
been studied by two widely different statistical methods. 
C^ne of these makes constant use of coefficients of corre- 
lation, and may l>e termed the correlational or hiomctrical 
method: the other traces family histories, and may be 
called the pedigree method. 

The correlational method utilizes measurements of a 
certain trait for two memlxTs of the same family, say 
the father and the son, in a large numlxT of families. 
Two lists of measurements are thus secured, one for 
fathers, aud one for sons, the measurement for each son 
IxMug paired with that of his father. Then the coeflicient 
of correlation between these two lists is determined, and 
called the amount of correlation between father and sons 
with respect to the trait measured. This coethcient sIiowl-j 
to what extent the standing of the fathers agfrees with that 
i^f their sons. In a similar way correlations are calculated 
between brothers, or IxHween fathers and daughters, or 
grandparents and grandchildren. 



METHODS OF INVESTIGATION 235 

The correlational method, unlike the pedigree method, 
does not trace out all the members of each generation. 
The correlational method gives the amount of resemblance 
existing on the average between persons related to each 
other in a s[>ociried manner; fcjr example, as father and 
son, or as brothers. The pedigree method, on the other 
hand, records what proportion of the offspring are like 
one or the other of their parents, for many successive 
generations. The correlational method may show that 
sons lack fifty per cent, of equalling their fathers exactly 
in height. The pedigree method, on the other hand, classi- 
fies fathers as tall, medium or short, and then gives 
the percentage of sons who fall in the same class as 
their fathers. 

The fundamental assumption of the correlational 
method is that the greater the influence of heredity the 
greater will Ije the resemblance l^etween relatives of any 
specified degree of relationship. It is noteworthy, how- 
ever, that even where heredity is undoubtedly the cause 
of a trait, the resemblance between relatives in that trait 
is far from perfect. In a trait as unquestionably deter- 
mined by heredity as color of the eyes, there may be in 
many particular cases no resemblance l^tween parent and 
offspring. Among the children of brown-eyed parents 
may be some with dark eyes and some with blue ; but the 
blue-eyed children owe the color of their eyes to heredity 
no less than do the brown-eyed. Children do not originate 
from the eyes, but from the germ-cells of their parents; 
and the color of children's eyes is determined not by the 
color of their parents' eyes but by the nature of their 
parents' germ-cells. Characteristics of a parent's body 
or mind are no sure indication of the characteristics of 
his germ cells. 



236 HEREDITY 

Besides the difference between the germinal and the 
bodily traits of a parent, numerous considerations prevent 
a perfect resemblance between parents and offspring-, even 
in purely hereditary traits. If the two parents differ in 
any trait, as they are likely to do, then, in spite of heredity, 
the resemblance of the children to one or both of the 
parents must be imperfect. Again, some traits (or their 
absence) , may be caused either by heredity or environment. 
The cases in which a trait is caused by environment lowers 
the correlation of all cases taken together, and thus brings 
it about that the resulting coefficient of correlation conceals 
the fact that in many cases the trait is purely hereditary. 
For these and other reasons, heredity, when influential, 
merely causes persons of the same family to resemble each 
other more than persons who are not kin. In no case 
can it be expected to produce anything like a perfect 
resemblance, either between child and parent or between 
children of tlie same parents. 

Results of the Correlational Method. — Because corre- 
lations are always far from perfect, the results of the 
correlational method are somewhat inconclusive and diffi- 
cult of interpretation. ( The best way to arrive at an idea 
of tlie sigiiilicance of the correlations of mental traits is 
to compare them with the correlations of physical traits. 
Many physical traits, like the color of the hair and of the 
eyes, and the shape of the head, are certainly not affected 
to any great degree by environmental factors. The corre- 
lation between father and son in such physical traits is 
always nearly thirty per cent., and tliat between children 
of the same family about fifty per cent. Now if mentrJ 
traits prove to have the same correlation between parents 
and offspring as these physical traits, then parents and off- 
spring may be said to show the same resemblance in mental 
traits as they do in purely hereditary, physical traits. 



RESULTS OF CORRELATIONAL METHOD 237 

As a matter of fact, the correlations for mental traits and 
for physical traits are substantially the same. Practically 
all the numerous investigations conducted lead to this 
conclusion, a conclusion of great practical importance, 
whatever its interpretation. 

One particularly interesting investigation is that by 
Karl Pearson,^ who obtained teachers' ratings for a num- 
ber of psychological traits in the case of one thousand 
pairs of sibhngs. (Siblings are children of the same 
parents; a pair of siblings consists of two brothers, two 
sisters, or of a brother and a sister.) The traits included 
were : Ability, vivacity, conscientiousness, popularity, tem- 
per, introspection or tendency to self -consciousness, asser- 
tiveness and handwriting. The teachers' ratings of these 
traits, made without the aid of any special tests, and on 
a scale distinguishing only a few different degrees of the 
trait rated, do not constitute very accurate measurements. 
Nevertheless, the ratings by three teachers, acting without 
consultation among themselves, showed fair agreement. 
By means of these ratings, Pearson secured a list of meas- 
urements for each trait, and for each measurement of one 
child he had a corresponding measurement of another 
child of the same parents. He was thus able to calculate 
the correlation between children of the same parents. The 
correlation was least in vivacity, greatest in ability and 
handwriting, but varied only from forty-three to fifty- 
six per cent., and averaged slightly over fifty per cent., 
which is practically the same as for physical traits. 

Another interesting investigation was made by 
Schuster and Elderton,^ who, to obtain data bearing on 
the inheritance of mental ability, made a study of the 

^ " On the Inheritance of the Mental and Moral Characters in 
Man" Biom£trika, vol. iii, 1904, pp. 131-190. 

^"The Inheritance of Ability." Eugenics Laboratory Memoirs, 
1907. 



238 HEREDITY 

class lists of Oxford College and of the schools of Harrow 
and Charterhouse. They noted the class standings of 
members of the same family, and then figured out the 
correlations. Expressing the resemblance between 
fathers and sons, a correlation coefficient of thirty per 
cent, was obtained, which agrees perfectly with the 
coefficients obtained in the case of physical traits. 

Other investigators have found similar correlations. 
Woods, in a well-known study,"' rated 671 members of 
European royal families on a scale of ten, basing his 
ratings upon statements of historians and biographers. 
He found a correlation of intellect and character between 
fathers and offspring amounting to thirty per cent. 
Earle ^ measured the spelling ability of one hundred and 
eighty pairs of siblings in one of the schools of New York 
City. Using carefully prepared tests, and grading 
each child by his deviation from the average for his 
grade and sex, he found a correlation of fifty per cent, 
between siblings. 

These investigations and others clearly demonstrate 
that mental characteristics or capacities run in families 
to just the same extent as do the color of the eyes or hair, 
or round-headedness and long-headedness. These physi- 
cal traits are unquestionably determined almost entirely 
by heredity. Consequently, mental traits run in families 
very much as though they were wholly determined by 
heredity. Nevertheless it is not safe to conclude that 
mental traits arc determined by heredity as much as 
physical traits. It must first be proved that the family 

®" Mental and Moral Heredity in Royalty." 1906. 

* " The Inheritance of the Ability to Learn to Spell." Columhia 
Contributions to Philosophy, rsychofogy and Education, vol. ii, 1903, 
pp. 41-44. 



RESULTS OF CORRELATIONAL METHOD 239 

resemblances were not produced by early home environ- 
ment, especially the influence of fathers and mothers dur- 
ing the early years of life. The task of unravelling the 
effects of environment from those of heredity has been 
attempted in various ways ; but it is a complex one, and 
so far has not been satisfactorily mastered. The evidence 
gathered, however, lends support to the belief that hered- 
ity rather than environment is the preponderating 
factor in the causation of individual differences in 
mental capacity. 

Certainly many of the factors that come first to mind 
in connection with environment are of very little conse- 
quence in determining individual differences. These are 
such things as bad housing, low wages, uncleanliness, 
unsanitary surroundings, unhealthy trade of the father, 
drinking and immoral behavior of parents, crowded 
rooms, condition of clothing, and so on. The effect of 
variations in such factors, which are everyday experi- 
ences — variations producible by political, economic or 
social control — ^has been measured. The correlations 
found between any one of these environmental factors 
and the mental traits of children is always very low, 
usually only three or four per cent. ; and Karl Pearson 
has shown that when the correlations for each of these 
more or less closely related environmental factors is as 
low* as this, the correlation for even a hundred of them 
taken together would still be so small as to indicate 
that their combined influence does not approach that 
of heredity.^ 

* " On Certain Errors with Regard to Multiple Correlation Occa- 
sionally Made by Those Who Have Not Adequately Studied This 
Subject." Biomctrika, vol. x, 1914, pp. 181-187. See also Elderton, 
" The Relative Strength of Nurture and Nature," Eugenics' Labora- 
tory Lecture Series, vol. iii, 1909, p. 40. 



240 HEREDITY 

ThoriKllko/^ like Francis Galton/ attempted to solve 
the problem by studying twins, lie gave several mental 
tests to a considerable numl)er of twins, and found mem- 
bers of twin pairs to show much greater resemblance 
than do ordinary brothers and sisters. He points out that 
if the high resemblance of twins is " due to the fact that 
the two members of any twin pair are treated alike at 
home, have the same parental models, attend the same 
sch(>ol and are subject in general to closely similar environ- 
mental conditions, then twins should, up to the age of 
leaving home, grow more and nu^-e alike." ^ On the 
other hand, the nearer the resemblance of young twins 
comes to equalling that of older ones, the nuH'e must the 
resemblances l>e attributable to inlx)rn nature. Thorndike 
found the older twins to show no closer resemblance than 
the younger twins, and hence concluded that the influence 
(^f environtnent was slight. It should l>e pointed out, 
however, that Thonidike's data do not, unfortunately, 
extend to twins Ixiow the age of nine. It still remains 
piK^sible, therefore, that the great resemblance Ix^tween 
twins is due to the action of similar home environment, 
exerted at a very early and impressionable age. 

These studies of Pearson and Thorndike indicate that 
the only very important environmental factors in deter- 
mining individual differences are of two sorts.' The one 
is the direct psychological or educational influence of the 
parents during the vciy early years of life; the other is 
the mitritional and physical welfare of the brain during 
its early growth, Ix^th Ix^fore and after birth. Among 
the physical factors most likely to interfere with nutrition 

•"Measurements of Twnns." Archives of Philosophy, Psychol- 
ogy and Scirntifir }[t'thoiis. vol. i. No. i. ux>5. 

*" Inquiries Into Human Faculty." i8v^.^. pp. ji(>-J43. 
'"Educational Psychology," second edition, loio. p. <.x>. 



PEDIGREES OF FEEBLE-MINDED 241 

of the brain are injury and disease affecting either the 
child or its mother. It is known that these fact(jrs are 
powerful enough in some cases to produce severe feeble- 
mindedness. 

Pedigrees of the Feeble-minded. — The case against 
environment as a cause of individual differences in chil- 
dren is made still stronger by the data concerning the 
causation of feeble-mindedness. Here the pedigree method 
has been the main reliance. This method has been 
employed on a large scale by certain of our institutions 
for feeble-minded children. These institutions, by the 
aid of field v^orkers, secure as complete a record as pos- 
sible of the ancestry of the feeble-minded children whom 
they receive. The field workers visit the homes of the 
children, in the country or in cities, interview the parents 
and relatives, family physicians, neighbors, judges and 
other informants. They note carefully the mental and 
physical condition of the parents, sometimes administer- 
ing mental tests, and secure facts about the ancestry of 
the child for as many generations as possible. These facts 
are charted in the form of family trees. Hundreds of 
these family histories have now been collected. 

The most extensive account of such studies so far 
published is that by Goddard, who secured fairly adequate 
data on the family histories of three hundred feeble- 
minded children. 'Upon analyzing the records he came 
to the conclusion that nearly eighty per cent, of these 
children owed their feeble-mindedness to heredity. The 
priority in causation of feeble-mindedness which Goddard 
ascribes to heredity is in agreement with the estimates 
of the overwhelming majority of qualified experts.^ Dr. 
Ashby, for example, in his testimony before the British 



• See Tredgold, " Mental Deficiency," 2d ed., 1916, p. 22. 



242 HEREDITY 

Royal C^Miinilssiou on the b'cohlo-inindccl, stated that in 
at least sovcnty-iivc per cent, of tlie children he had 
examined, there was stroni;' prolxd>ility that the feeble- 
mindedness \\as heredit;iry, and that he had observed no 
si)eeial tendency for the development of feehle-niindcdness 
in the children of alcolu^lics, or of ^vonlen ^vho sulTer 
privation dnrini;- the period of i^estation. or in those chil- 
dren who live in nn favorable conditit^ns snbseqnent 
to birth. 

JMost oi the feeble-minded cases attribnted by Goddard 
to heredity had family histories showing- a lari;e nnniber 
of other cases of feeble-mindedrcss. In these cases, then, 
feeble-mindedness is inheritetl from feeble-mindedness : 
" in these cases, it is evident from the charts themselves 
that we are dealini;* with a condition of mind or brain 
which is transmitted as ret;-nlarly and snrely as color of 
hair or eyes." On the other hand, (uHldard, like ahncxst 
all oihcv antluM-ities, attribntes a. certain percentage of 
feeble-mindedness to nenn^pathic ancestry; that is, he 
regards it as hereditary, bnt as inherited, not fn^m feeble- 
minded ancestors^ bnt from ancestors who snlTered from 
snch things as insanity, paralysis, apoplexy and epilepsy.' 
1 1 may be in these cases that the determining inheritance 
is merely a weakened constitntion of the brain which de- 
velops into feeble-mindedness as the resnlt of any of a 
long list of nntoward circmnstances snch as falls, severe 
sickness, brain disease, convnlsions or injnry at birth, 
or disease ov injnrv of the mother before the birth of 
the child.^^^ 

The analysis of Goddard's material brings ont fnrther 
interesting points. One is the resnlt of mating's in which 
IxMh parents are feeble-minded. Tt appears that in this 

'''See Trctlgold. (»/>. cit.. pp. 2S~2C\ 



PEDIGREES OF FEEBLE-MINDED 243 

case, all the children, with rare exceptions, will be feel^lc- 
mindcd. Goddard's histories show 144 matings where 
both parents were feeble-minded. From these 144 mat- 
ings there sprung" 482 children who lived beyond infancy, 
and of whom information was obtainable. AUIjiit six of 
these 482 were feeble-minded. 

To Goddard^s cases in which both parents were feeble- 
minded, there could be added many more of the same sort. 
I have met with several of them, and in one case, besides 
visiting the entire family, obtained the intelligence quo- 
tients of seven of its members. The father of this family, 
when he works at all, collects ashes and garbage. The 
mother is too feeble-minded to manage the housework. 
The whole family is filthy and verminous. They live in 
a little, tumbled-down shack, on the outskirts of a small 
town. Members of a neighlxjring Lutheran church occas- 
ionally spend several days " cleaning house " for the 
family, but within a week things are as dirty as ever. 
There are eleven children, all feeble-minded. Three are 
old enough to work, but seldom do. The fourth child, 
Clara, aged 16 years and 8 months, quit school last Sep- 
tember, in the fifth grade. The remaining seven are all 
younger than Clara, and still in school. Their intelligence 
quotients, together with their school grades, are as follows :. 

i.q: 

1st grade: Walter 69 

2d grade : Jennie 74 

4th grade : Alma 70 

Sth grade : May 64 

5th grade : Kate 78 

6th grade : Maud 50 

6th grade : Hannah 66 

The first of these children to attract my attention was 
Maud. Maud entered school at the age of five years, and 
spent two years in each grade except the first. She has 



244 HEREDITY 

been promoted, regardless of attainments, in accordance 
with the custom of promoting children who have been two 
years in a grade. She will never be promoted, beyond the 
sixth grade, however, for as soon as she is sixteen years 
old, she will be asked to stay at home. She is now 15 
years and 3 months chronologically, and 7 years and 6 
months mentally. 

The result of marriage between a feeble-minded per- 
son and a normal one is more problematic. According 
to Goddard, we must distinguish two kinds of normals : 
First, those who, normal themselves, have a feeble-minded 
parent or other ancestor, and are therefore capable of 
transmitting f eeble-mindedness ; and, second, those who 
are not only normal themselves but whose ancestry is 
entirely free from feeble-mindedness. Matings of feeble- 
minded persons with normals of tlie first sort, Goddard 
finds, cause one-half of the children to be feeble-minded. 
Matings of feeble-minded persons with normals of the 
second sort result in normal offspring, but the latter are 
all capable of transmitting feeble-mindedness to their chil- 
dren. ]\Iatings between such persons, normal themselves, 
but having a feeble-minded parent, result in the produc- 
tion, on an average, of three normal children to one feeble- 
minded child. 

Figures showing definite percentages like these, if cor- 
rect, prove clearly that there is a definite law of heredity 
which controls the transmission of feeble-mindedness. 
This law, whicli holds true of a vast number of animal 
and plant traits, as well as of a number of human 
traits, is known as Mendel's law.^^ Before it can be 
said to apply to the inlieritance of intelligence, however, 
we need very much more data than is yet at hand. 

" For an exposition of this law, see Mendelism, by R. C. Punnett. 



THE KALLIKAK FAMILY 245 

The Kallikak Family. — Perhaps of all the family pedi- 
grees so far published none so strikingly proves the 
hereditary nature of feeble-mindedness as that which 
Goddard has published under the title, " The Kallikak 
Family." Our discussion of the heredity of feeble- 
mindedness would be very incomplete without a descrip- 
tion of this famous set of pedigrees. In tracing back 
the ancestry of a feeble-minded child called Detorah, 
the field workers arrived at the child's great-great-great- 
grandfather, called Martin Kallikak. Martin Kallikak, 
it was ascertained, was of fair intelligence, but when 
fifteen, owing to his father's death, was left without 
paternal guidance. 

"Just before attaining his majority, the young man 
joined one of the numerous military companies that were 
formed to protect the country at the beginning of the 
revolution. At one of the taverns frequented by the 
militia, he met a feeble-minded girl by whom he became 
the father of a feeble-minded son." ^^ This feeble- 
minded son, given his father's name, Martin Kallikak, 
handed the name of Kallikak down to posterity with 
the mentality of his feeble-minded mother. 

Martin, Sr., however, leaving the Revolutionary 
Army, married a respectable girl of good family, and 
through that union there originated another line of 
descendants of radically different character. Thus there 
are two lines of descendants, starting with Martin Kalli- 
kak, Sr., one of which arises from a mating with a 
feeble-minded woman, the other from lawful marriage 
with a normal woman. 

The comparison of these two lines of descent, traced 

" " The Kallikak Family," 1912, p. 18. 



2 46 



llKRKniTV 



through six g-encrations, is cxtromcly instnictive. The 
accoinpajwing duirt (Fig. i,0 shows the tirst generations. 
From the illegitimate son of Martin KaUikak have 
come 480 direct descendants. Delinite data has Ix^n 
secnred conceniing 1S7 of these, which prove conchisively 
that 14^^, or alxnit 75 per cent., are feeble-minded. It is 
not improlxible that the sc\n\e ratio would hold for the 
other cases concerning" which detinite data could not be 









Kvs'y 4:^ /HKv.' 



m (n) (n) ® (n) [n] (n) 






{N} 



a-H® 



fXKRia M/mM SUSM AMCfMEZ OUAtem JOSmt ABSf£ mftnuM 



MKOMZABnir 



'ik ^ ti ^ 4 (b '^ (b (k (b 



A<:^-(>V AAT.tAV dl^SS Ci^SAi JSM..\i4 



CUAXX^ ^.i^ AV>' 



Fig. 13. — Descendmits of Martin Kallikak, Sr., by his ^\^fe, and by 

a teoblo-mind«.\i girl. (Mvxlitiod fR"^m Goddard, '* The KaiUkak 

family," p. 37.) 

secured. In addition to feeble-mindedness. there was 
found a lil->eral admixture of illegitimacy, gross sexual 
inmiorality and dnmkenness. 

On the other hand, from the union of Martin Kallikak, 
Sr.. and his lawful w-ife, have come 496 direct descendants, 
ever}- one of whom is nonnal. *' In this family and its 
collateral branches, we find nothing but good representa- 
tive citizenship. There are doctors, lawyers, judges, edu- 
cators, traders, landholders, in short, respectable citizens, 
men and women prominent in ever}- phase of social life. 



INHERITANCE OF INTELLIGENCE 247 

There have been no feeble-minded amon^ them ; no ille- 
gitimate ehildren, JKj immoral women." '■' 

The Inheritance of Superior Intelligence. — The Kalli- 
kak history, one of the most extensive and convincing yet 
published, is paralleled by many others. These histories 
show that there is no escape from the conclusion that 
feeble-mindedness is hereditary. But what about the 
(jther degrees of intelligence? The answer is that all the 
facts indicate that the higher degrees of intelligence 
follow the laws of heredity to just the same extent 
as do the lower degrees. Does not the Kallikak family 
itself present equal proof of the inheritance of *' normal- 
mindedness" and feeble-mindedness? Of course in this 
case the exact degree of intelligence to Ixi understood 
by *' normal '^ is not indicated. But there are other stud- 
ies which show that the highest degrees of intelligence, 
including genitis, are hereditary. Indeed, it is Francis 
Cjalton's study of Hereditary Genius that first really 
opened for investigation the subject of mental inheritance. 
And the record of feeble-mindedness seen in the degener- 
ate strain of the Kallikak family is no more remarkable 
than that of eminent ability displayed by the Edwards 
family. It is refreshing to turn from the inheritance 
of feeble-mindedness to studies of the inheritance of high 
grdered intelligence. 

/ First, we may cite some statistical studies of Francis 
■^'^Galton and of Woods. Galton chose for his study the 977 
most eminent men out of a population of nearly 4,000,000. 
Each of these men, therefore, ranked as i man in 4000 
for eminent intellectual gifts. These 977 eminent men, 
it was found, had a total of 535 relatives of a degree of 
eminence equal to their own. Galton then showed that 

" Op. cit, p. 30. 



fl48 HKRKPirV 

077 avcrai^o inon have a ioi:\\ oi only 4 oininoni rolatives.' 
SiiKV ilio i^roup of 077 oniinont tnon had 5^^ 5 ciwincnt rola- 
tivos, as coinpaiwl with 4 tor a i^roup ot ilio s»uno nuiwlxM^ 
of ordiTiary inon. it appears that an oniinont man has on 
the avorai^o i^>4 litnos as many oniinont tvlativos as has 
the avorai^o man. Galton condudeii from his stndy that 
cminonoo doos not dopond npoti traitiing- or opportnnity 
bnt npon birth. 1 lo hold that tho possession of high S(.x'ia.l 
advantai^o doos not load to ominonoo nnloss acoompaniod 
by niarkod innato ability, and that tho man who is i^iftod 
with innato ability of a high ordor will Ix^ ablo to rise 
thn^ugh all tho obstaolos causod b\ inferior social ratik.^ 

(Walton's statistical thulings have Ivon continued by the 
rostilts of several other investigators. \\'oods. for exam- 
ple, whose stndy of heredity in Fnropean royalty has 
already boon mentioned, collected d.ata concerning the 
forty-six Americans who have statnos in the 1 lall of l-'ame. 
He finds that those celebrities have a great many more 
eminent relatives than has the averagv person; that they 
are. as he s;iys. " from tive hundred to one thonsand times 
as much related to distingiiishovl pov^ple as the ordiiuir)' 
mortal is." ^^ 

The Edwards Family. — It remains to till in these 
statistical generalizations with a bill of particulars. This 
we will do by a brief survey of tho F.d wards family, one 
of a numlxT of distinguishovl American families descrilvd 
by Davenport. \\'e cannot do Ixnter than to quote in full 
his description. Kisovl on gvnealogical manuscripts. 

" Fn.>m two Eng^lish parents, sire at least remotely 
descendeil from royalty, was Ix^m in ^fassiichusetts 

** *' Heredity and the Hall of Fame." Pof^tthr Sci^rncf Monthh. 
lOT,^. pp. 445-5 5J. See also, Loewenfeld. "Ucber die Geniale 
Gijisitesthati^keit." iiX\>. 



THE I!:dwards family 249 

Elizabeth Tutlle. vShc dcvcloiicd into a woman of great 
beauty, of tall and commanding apjjc^rance, striking car- 
riage, ' of strong will, extreme intellectual vigor, of men- 
tal grasp akin to rapacity, attracting not a few by magnetic 
traits, but repelling ' when she evinced an extraordinary 
deficiency of the moral sense. 

"'On November 19, 1667, she married Richard 
F.d wards, of Ilartford, Cr^nnecticut, a lawyer of high 
repute and great erudition. Like his wife he was very 
tall, and as they both walked the Hartford streets, their 
appearance invited the eyes and the admiration of all.' 
In 1691, Mr. Edwards was divorced from his wife on the 
ground of her adultery and other immoralities. The evil 
trait was in the blocKl, for one of her sisters murdered 
her own son, and a brother murdered his own sister. After 
his divorce Mr. Edwards remarrierl and had five sons and 
a daughter by Mary Talcott, a mediocre woman, average 
in talent and character and ordinary in appearance. * None 
of Mary Talcott' s progeny rose above mediocrity and 
their descendants gained no abiding reputation.' 

"Of EJizal>eth Tuttle and Richard Edwards the only 
son was Timothy Edwards, who graduated from Harvard 
College in 1691, gaining simultaneously the two degrees 
of bachekjr of arts and master of arts — a very exceptional 
feat. Lie was pastor of the church in East Windsor, 
Connecticut, for fifty-nine years. Of eleven children 
the only son was Jonathan Edwards, one of the world's 
great intellects, preeminent as a divine and theologian, 
president of Lrinceton Ojllege. Of the descendants of 
Jonathan Edwards much has Ixien written ; a brief cata- 
logue muit suffice: Jonathan Edwards, Jr., president of 
Union College; Timothy Dwight, president of Yale; 
Sereno Edwards Dwight, president of Hamilton College; 



250 HEREDITY 

Theodore Dwight Woolsey, for twenty-five years presi- 
dent of Yale College; Sarali, wife of Tapping Reeve, 
founder of Litchfield Law School, herself no mean law- 
yer: Daniel Tyler, a general of the Civil War and founder 
of the iron industries of north Alabama; Timothy Dwight, 
the second, president of Yale University from 1886 to 
1898; Theodore ^Villiam Dwight, founder and for thirty- 
three years warden of Columbia Law School ; * Henrietta 
Frances, wife of Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, 
who. burning tlie midnight oil by the side of her ingenious 
husband, helped him to his enduring fame; Merrill 
Edwards Gates, president of Amherst College ; Catherine 
Maria Sedg*wick, of graceful pen; Charles Sedg'wick 
^linot, authority on biolog}' and embr}'ology in the Har- 
vard Medical School, and Winston Churchill, the author 
of Coniston.' These constitute a glorious galaxy of 
America's great educators, students and moral leaders 
of the Republic. 

" Two other of the descendants of Elizabeth Tuttle 
through her son Timothy have been purposely omitted 
from the foregoing catalogue, since they belong in a class 
by themselves, because they inherited also the defects of 
Elizabeth's cliaracter. These two were Pierrepont 
Edwards, w^ho is said to have been a tall, brilliant, acute 
jurist, eccentric and licentious; and Aaron Burr, Vice- 
President of the L^nited States, in whom flowered the good 
and the evil of Elizabeth Tuttle' s blood. Here the lack of 
control of the sex-impulse in the germ plasm of this 
wonderful woman has reappeared with imagination and 
otlier talents in certain of her descendants. 

" The remarkable qualities of Elizabeth Tuttle were 
in the germ plasm of her four daughters also : Abigail 
Stoughton, Elizabeth Deniing, Ann Richardson, and 



CONCLUSION 251 

Mabel Bigelow. All of these have had distinguished 
descendants, of whom only a few can l>e mentioned here. 
Rol>ert Treat Paine, signer of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, descended from Abigail; the Fairbanks 
Brothers, manufacturers of scales and hardware at St. 
Johnsbury, Vt., and the Marchioness of Donegal were 
descended from EHzabeth Deming; from Mabel Bigelow 
came Morrison R. Waite, Chief Justice of the United 
States, and the law author, Melville M. Bigelow; from 
Ann Richardson proceeded Marvin Richardson Vincent, 
professor of Sacred Literature at Columbia University, 
the Marchioness of Apesteguia of Cuba, and Ulysses S. 
Grant and Grover Cleveland, presidents of the United 
States. Thus two presidents, the wife of a third and a 
vice-president trace back their origin to the germ plasm 
from which (in part) Elizabeth Tuttle was also derived, 
but of which, it must never be forgotten, she was not the 
author. Nevertheless, had Elizabeth Tuttle not been, this 
nation would not occupy the position in culture and learn- 
ing that it now does." 

Conclusion. — It is clear, from whatever angle the 
subject is studied, that heredityisan enormously important 
factor in determining a person's mental characteristics.^^ 
It is not altogether a simple matter, however, to decide 
upon the exact interpretation to give all the interesting 
facts that have been gathered. Perhaps the main point 
established is simply the fact of innate capacities. Since 
innate capacities are determined by the action of heredity, 
difference between children in innate capacities must 
always be due to heredity. 

But certainly one other point is established: that 
environments may be very diverse and still be equally 
suited to the manifestation of such innate capacities, or 



252 HEREDITY 

the lack of them, as may exist. The environments of most 
children, especially those in the same community, in spite 
of great apparent diversity, are after all sufficiently alike, 
so. that differences in ability are almost entirely accounted 
for by differences in innate capacity, and not by differences 
in environment. \\'hen the environments of children are 
at all similar, we find that such dift'erences in environ- 
ment as may exist do not correlate with the degree of 
success of the children's perfonnances. The degree of 
success must consequently depend upon tlie innate poten- 
tialities of the children. 

Even though the capacities of an individual are not 
determined entirely by heredity, they might just as well 
be, so far as the public schools are concerned: for the 
only environmental factors of importance in the deter- 
mination of original capacities are those which act at a 
very early age — often at or before birtli, and during the 
lirst few months of life. Certainly, specific capacity, 
as the ability to learn to write the opposites of words 
or the ability to become a musician, and gcn<ral capacity 
as sliown by the intelligence quotient, are both determined 
before the child enters the public school. The rate at 
which children's capacities grow is still subject to 
some variation after the school age is reached; but 
probably if proper allowance were made for these varying 
rates of growth, there would be found practically no 
change in any child's ranking as regards any of his 
original capacities. 

In all this, it should be remembered always that we 
are referring to capacities, and capacities are merely poten- 
tialities. Whether these potentialities are ever realized 
certainly depends upon en\'ironment. An environment 
highly favorable to the manifestation of a certain capacity 



CONCLUSION 253 

Vv^ill not result in such manifestation unless the capacity is 
there. The most favorable environment in the world 
cannot bring about the manifestations of normal intelli- 
gence in a case of hereditary feeble-mindedness. On the 
other hand, an unfavorable environment, though it cannot 
easily suppress an existing capacity nor its growth with 
age, can yet suppress the manifestation of that capacity. 
In the words of Cattell, '* the environment imposes a veto 
on any performance not congenial to it." ^^ Capacities 
are innate, but it is environment and education which 
determines the use, if any, made of, them, and the line of 
accomplishment to which they are directed. 

^^ " The Development of American Men of Science." Science, 
Dec. 7, 1906. 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION 

The Relation of Education to Heredity and Growth.— 
The results discussed in the preceding* chapter clearly 
demonstrate that there is such a thing as original capacity, 
capacity determined bv heredity or by physiological fac- 
tors ver)' early in ojx^ration. Original capacity, whether 
intelligence or special talent, is tixed before the age for 
entering school. With this fact established, it is easy to 
see that the object of education must be the provision 
of exercise for these capacities — not the creation of them. 
Capacities are simply potentialities — possibilities — which 
the school must transform into realities, by giving them 
opportimity to manifest themselves. The task of the 
school is nothing other than to arrange for all children 
the chance to tise whatever capacities they may possess. 
It is only through use that the child's capacities may be 
trained to accomplish their maximum. 

I have emphasized the distinction between original 
capacity and the opportunity for its training through 
exercise. It is necessar}- at this point to make one more 
distinction, that between training aiid growth. Original 
abilities, although iiilierited. are not inherited in their final 
form. Present at birth, they still have before them a 
long process of growth, as have the brain and the nervous 
system, in which they find their physiological basis. The 
process of growtli of an organ, and the rate at which it 
grows, are as largely due to heredity as its very existence. 
Growth in mental ability, then, shotild not be confused, 
254 



I 



HEREDITY AND GROWTH 255 

as it so frequently is, with the effects of training. Growth 
changes the amount of capacity ; education enables the indi- 
vidual to accomplish the maximum with such capacity as 
he may possess. The distinction is clear enough in adults, 
vvho go on learning all their lives, Ijut who stop growing 
in intelligence at alxjut the age of sixteen. I have pointed 
out, too, that the change in ability represented by the 
change from one mental age to a higher one should be 
regarded not as the result of education or training, but as 
a matter of growth.'' 

It is probably true that very early training of mental 
capacities has something to do with their growth. Prob- 
ably at an early age the brain cells need stimulation 
through the avenues of the senses, just as they need 
nutrition from the blood, in order to attain their maximal 
growth. They need education as well as nutrition — a 
psychological environment as well as a physiological one. 
If newborn kittens are blinded Ix^fore their eyes open, 
there results a degeneration of the cells of the visual area 
of the cerebral cortex. This points to the desirability 
of a broad experience early in life, so that as many brain 
pathways as possible will receive the stimulation neces- 
sary for their proper growth. - 

The effect of education or environment on the growth 
of innate abilities, however, should not be overestimated. 
The evidence of its importance in affecting growth, even 
at an early age, is not strong. We have very little definite 
knowledge of the manner by which educational or psycho- 
logical environment, consisting of the stimuli which act 
on the senses, and regarded as separate from the nutri- 
tional environment consisting of the blood, may affect 
the gro\\1;h of brain cells. Moreover, even if that knowl- 

* See Chapter II, p. 3^. 



2S6 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION 

edge were more definite, even though we were sure that 
the effect of environment on the growth of the brain cells 
was considerable, it is quite certain that this effect is 
exerted before the age of entering school. The evidence 
for this early fixation of a child's mental capacities I have 
already reviewed. It consists in studies of the growth 
of the brain, studies of the constancy of a child's bright- 
ness as he increases in age, and in studies of the heredity 
of mental traits. It is conclusive, and we cannot discount 
it. It proves that on the average, mental abilities, in the 
sense of capacities, are fixed before the school age. At 
this age, the capacities have either completed their growth 
or will do so independently of education. 

The work of the school, then, is no more to produce 
grov^h of capacities than to create them. The schools 
cannot bring out of a child what the good Lord never put 
into him. The business of the schools is to see that the 
child has the chance to show what is in him. 

The accomplishments by which an original ability may 
manifest itself depend upon environment and education. 
Two children may have the same original ability, and yet, 
on account of the different opportunities afforded by their 
environment, show the utmost divergence in final achieve- 
ments. Indeed, whole races may be largely illiterate or 
not, according to the organization of their schools and 
society. For example, the population of Mexico is known 
to have a large percentage of illiterates. Are we to con- 
clude that this large percentage has not sufficient innate 
ability to acquire the art of reading? By no means. Send 
the children of these Mexicans to a good school for eight 
years, and undoubtedly almost all of them would learn 
to read and write. Differences in original ability would 
be evidenced by the superiority of some children in reading 



HEREDITY AND GROWTH 257 

and writing, with no better instruction than others; but 
without instruction or opportunity even superlative abil- 
ity is futile. 

Lester Ward has gone so far as to argue that many 
men and women of genius have appeared in the world and 
died without an opportunity to win recognition as such. 
In so far as he means merely to distinguish between the 
possession of ability and the chance to manifest it, there 
is no reason for disagreeing with him. Of course it is a 
sign of genius to be able to create the opportunity for its 
own display. But it may be impossible even for a gifted 
man to create the opportunity for display of all his genius. 
And if this is hard for the adult genius, how much harder 
must it be for the child genius ! As for the exceptionally 
dull child, nothing is clearer than the utter impossibility 
of his creating for himself the most favorable environ- 
ment for the use of his abilities. Clearly, it is the duty 
of the school to provide the child with the proper environ- 
ment, one that offers him the opportunity and incentive to 
exercise the best of his mental abilities. 

To provide an environment suited to the child's 
abilities, the school must know two things: It must 
know the nature of the child's abilities, and the best 
environment for their exercise. Often it knows neither. 
Probably no one is certain about the best schooling for 
exceptionally bright children, and the schools are only 
beginning to show signs that they realize the existence of 
such children. Our knowledge has, however, made great 
progress. The methods for determining original abilities 
have been discussed in the preceding chapters. It remains 
to consider the educational environment suited to the 
different degrees of ability. The remainder of the pres-i 
ent chapter will accordingly be devoted to consideration, 



2 58 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION 

of the relation of innate dullness and superiority to 
the organization of education, and the following- chapter 
to their bearing upon methods of education. 

The Necessity of Special Education for Bright and 
Dull Children. — Obviously, before any methods of train- 
ing can attain very much success, there must be a proper 
adjustment of the methods used to the^nipils concerned. 
This requires a proper organization of the school, an 
administration which maps out in broad lines the objects 
to be accomplished and makes sure that each teacher is 
engaged in the right work with the right children. 

The point of fundamental importance for public school 
organization is that different training should l)e provided 
for the dull children than for the superior ones. The 
school must recognize individual ditTerences; and the most 
fundamental is in general intelligence. Even were it 
desirable that all children should leani the same tilings, 
some of them, it must be recognized, learn more quickly 
thaii others; some learn in six years what others master 
only in ten years. This is due primarily to the fact that 
the superior diildren groiv in intelligence much faster tlian 
the dull; so tliat with increase in age tliere is constantly 
an increase in the difference in mental age between the 
two classes. Children of the same mental age at the 
time of entering school do not long remain of the same 
mental age. In a few years, the brighter children are 
well aliead of tlie duller ones, although the instruction is 
identical. As the brighter cliildren outstrip the dull in 
mejital age, they show a greatly superior learning power, 
for power to leani goes hand in hand with mental age. 

It is not merely the difference in rate of mental grow^th, 
however, which necessitates a dift'erence in instniction: 
it is not merely that the dull child progresses more slowly 



SPECIAL EDUCATION 259 

than the bright: he needs to be taught different things; 
for him the emphasis must be differently placed; in short, 
he needs a different quality of education. The capacities 
of most valuable service to the dull child are not those 
which form the most valuable assets of the superior child. 
Consequently, the environment required for the exercise 
of a child's best capacities is different for the dull and 
for the bright. A properly organized school must there- 
fore make provision not only for different rates of prog- 
ress, but must at the same time arrange for the adaptation 
of training to the kind of child receiving it. 

Different rates of progress are obvious; but the state- 
ment that dull children need a different kind of training 
from bright children needs further elucidation. Does not 
a public school education, it may be asked, consist inevi- 
tably of reading, w^riting and arithmetic, with a little 
geography, history, manual training and grammar? It 
usually does, and very properly so. But the conventional 
curriculum, however wisely formulated, should not be 
set up as a rigid standard to which all children must con- 
form; to suit the needs of a large percentage of children 
it must be radically modified. 

All authorities now agree that the dull child needs 
a more immediately practical education than the normal 
child. He must be taught fo do something useful, and 
with the least possible expenditure of time and money. 
A great step forward has been taken in the provision 
of auxiliary classes for these children; but in spite of rapid 
progress there is still a great waste in trying to give the 
children of these classes instruction in branches of learn- 
ing which they can never master. The principle to follow 
is to teach only those things which the child can without 



26o ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION 

doubt master sufficiently to make of them a real asset in 
such life work' as he can be trained to do successfully. 

If this principle is to be followed, education must be 
based on a diagnosis of mental capacities which takes into 
consideration not simply the child's mental, anatomical 
and chronological ages, but his entire history, background 
and constitution. On the basis of such diagnosis a rough 
and tentative estimate can be made of tlie sort of life-work 
which the child may ultimately mal^e his own. Suppose, for 
example, that we have to do with a feeble-minded child 
who seems likely never to go much beyond the mental age 
of seven or eight. We know that such a child can never 
learn arithmetic, or even reading and writing, sufficiently 
for them to be a real help to him, and that the attempt to 
teach him these subjects is simply a great waste of time, 
effort and money.^ If a child's intelligence quotient is 
below 0.70, it is useless to attempt instruction in arithmetic 
beyond addition, subtraction, multiplication, division 
and very simple fractions; if it is below 0.40, instruction 
in reading, even, is useless. 

There are innumerable examples like that of the 
boy^ who spent seven years in one of the special classes 
in Cleveland, after attending the regular grades for three 
years. At last he was triumphantly able painstakingly 
to write such words as ** my," " see," and " dog," but 
unable to read them after he wrote them. His ** educa- 
tion " cost the city one thousand dollars.* Not to apply 
our knowledge that instruction in the three " R's " in such 

' See Goddard, " School Training of Defective Children," 1915, 
pp. 9-12. 

* Mitchell, " Schools and Classes for Exceptional Children." 
Cleveland ScJwol Survey, 1916, p. 69. 

*For similar cases, see Chapter I, pp. 11, 12 (Abbie) and Chap- 
ter XI, pp. 243, 244 (Clara and Maud). 



SPECIAL EDUCATION 261 

cases as these is utterly futile, now that we have by a 
costly experience gained that knowledge, is criminal folly. 

What, then, should be the education of a child who is 
not likely to exceed the mental age of seven or eight, if it 
is to contain no instruction in reading, writing or arith- 
metic? It must consist essentially of training in some 
of those things which experience has shown a person of 
these low mental ages able to accomplish fairly well. He 
may succeed at many varieties of manual work. The 
kind of manual work best suited to each mental age has 
now been worked out in considerable detail. A girl of 
mental age seven, for instance, may be taught to do well 
any of the following occupations: Washing dishes, setting 
table, scrubbing, and other forms of housework; sewing 
and simple tailoring operations; lace-making; rug weav- 
ing; and ironing and sorting clothes. A man of mental 
age seven may do good work at any of the following: 
Housework, such as sweeping and polishing; laundry 
work; "outside work," such as taking care of a lawn, 
using pick and shovel, or teaming; brush making; some 
bench work; and net work — the making of tennis nets 
or hammocks.^ 

It is a very conservative estimate, that at least the dull- 
est ten per cent, of the average school population require 
a special education, an education which must differ from 
that of the normal in being more practical, more devoted 
to vocational and industrial training. It must consist 
more in physical activity and less in book learning. It 
must prepare the child by the shortest and most economical 
route for the best service to the community that he has 
it in him to render, however humble that service may be. 

"Merrill, "The Ability of the Special Class Children in the 
Three R's.' " Pedagogical Seminary, vol. xxv, 1918, pp. 8&-96. 



262 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION 

That the special education of the supernormal child is 
of even greater importance than that of the dull child 
is not so readily recognized. Whereas the dull child is 
an ever-present source of trouble to the teacher and a 
hindrance to her work with the children who are more 
justly entitled to her time, the exceptionally bright child 
easily takes care of himself. Although he may be a source 
of disorder, because he is not sufficiently occupied to find 
the school work interesting, he keeps pace with the rest 
of the class without difficulty. This apparent success of 
the bright child blinds the teacher to the fact that, in view 
of his superior capacities, he is accomplishing far less 
than he should. It is clear, however, that a child who is 
to grow up to be a leader in society deserves a much more 
advanced training than one who can barely be trained to 
self-support. If we continue to use a large portion of 
our energies in training the children of the lower levels 
of intelligence, without simultaneously devoting special 
attention to the exceptionally bright, we shall produce 
an unbalanced system, which must in time tend to pull 
downward the general level of education. 

In the ordinary schoolroom, the superior cliild obtains 
far less knowledge and training than he can assimilate, less 
than he must receive if his abilities are to be exerted to 
their utmost. The exceptionally bright child is capa- 
ble of turning to advantage a very great variety of knowl- 
edge. His education consequently must be broader than 
that of the majority. It should Include more branches of 
study, and more advanced study of the subjects taught to 
the average children, extra problems and extra study of 
special topics. The details of the program cannot be 
formulated until we have a much larger mass of really 
scientific data. Hitherto our knowledge of supernormality 



SPECIAL EDUCATION 263 

in youth has been confined merely to fragmentary infor- 
mation of the boyhood days of great men and scattered 
accounts of infant prodigies — as unreHable as they are 
sensational. An enlightened educational procedure for 
these children still awaits the results of a systematic study 
of the supernormal, including not only a study of their 
mental traits, with related physiological conditions, but 
a careful record of their development during and after 
their school training. Only in this way will the proper 
system ever be established. 

One occasional objection to special education of the 
supernormal child is that the additional demands made 
upon his mental ability may overburden him physically 
so as to endanger his health and physique. Undeniably, 
great care must be exercised on the physical side, but there 
is no evidence ax hand to show that a bright child engaged 
in mental work which challenges his best efforts is thereby 
doing himself a physical injury. There is danger, no 
doubt, but harm can be avoided by proper attention to all 
matters of health and hygiene, and by consideration of 
these latter forces before purely mental development. In 
this connection, a knowledge of anatomical age is of great 
value. As a previous chapter states, no child should be 
pushed ahead mentally if his anatomical development is 
below the normal for his age. 

Another objection, particularly strong in a democratic 
country like America, is that granting special attention 
to exceptionally bright children may cause them to feel 
superior to their schoolmates, and so develop in them a 
spirit of arrogance and intellectual conceit. The only 
way to avoid this Is to make the special privileges accorded 
to these children dependent upon strength of character 
as well as upon mental capacity. Children should not 



264 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION 

acquire these privileges ostensibly for a high level of intel- 
ligence, but as a reward of hard work; and continued 
enjoyment of them should be made dependent upon per- 
sistence of effort, earnestness and faithfulness. By main- 
taining these character qualifications, there is little danger 
that a child will become conceited, particularly as he will 
compete with others of his own calibre rather than with 
those whom he can easily outclass. 

According to Stem, one of the ablest of the few 
scientific students of education for the supernormal child, 
the moral dangers of the special class for very superior 
children are far less than those of the regular class. He 
summarizes his conclusions thus : " A school system 
adapted to the average is not merely uneconomical for 
those of unusual capacities. It is under some circum- 
stances, positively morally dangerous, because, for such 
pupils, the com.pletion of the assigned work is but play; 
the slow progress and frequent repetitions bore them ; the 
deeper interests that they bring with them to the school 
are not enlisted. Consequently, indolence, laxity and 
dislike for school are readily developed; the spirit of hard 
work, self-control and conscientiousness that should 
spring from persistent effort fail to appear; in short, the 
higher ethical qualities that the school should bring into 
play are not developed in these pupils — a situation that 
is doubly deplorable because great mental gifts first make 
themselves fully evident when they are enlisted in the 
service of a firm, conscientious will." ^ 

Stern believes that very remarkable results may be 
attained with children of superior mentality, in properly 
conducted special classes. In view of the absence of any 

" " The Supernormal Child." Journal of Educational Psychology, 
vol. ii, 191 1, p. 148. 



SPECIAL EDUCATION 265 

scientific records, we cannot do better than again to quote 
his views. He writes, '' By following a very different pace 
from ordinary classes, by broadening and deepening the 
cultural material, by minimizing drill and mechanical 
aids to memorization, by cultivating especially the habit of 
independent mental review and assimilation of the subject- 
matter and by free election within the subjects of instruc- 
tion (particularly in the upper classes), the superior 
capacities of these pupils would be given the possibility of 
development for which their birth had fitted them ; more- 
over, by reason of the quite unusual demands made upon 
them, self -discipline and the spirit of conscientiousness 
would also be developed in a manner totally impossible 
for such pupils in the ordinary school. And there would 
be developed for society a class of leaders equipped with 
really deeper and broader training/' ^ 

Stern's emphasis on the need of special education for 
the exceptionally bright child is echoed by numerous other 
authorities. Dr. Wallin, director of the Psycho-Educa- 
tional Clinic of the St. Louis Public Schools, asserts 
that the supernormal child has been, more than any other, 
neglected.^ Bonser thinks that " perhaps the worst type 
of retardation in the schools is withholding appropriate 
promotion from those pupils who are the most gifted, 
therefore of the most significance as social capital." He 
came to this conclusion from a study of the reasoning 
ability in children of the fourth, fifth and sixth grades.^ 
He found that many children of the fourth grade pos- 

' Op. cit., p. 183. 

' " Clinical Psychology and the Psycho-Clinicist." Journal of 
Educational Psychology, vol. vi, 191 1, p. 123, 

®"The Reasoning Ability of Children of the Fourth, Fifth and 
Sixth Grades." ^ Teachers College, Columbia University, Contribu- 
tions to Education, 1910, p. 91. 



266 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION 

sessed better mental po^Ye^s than did children in the sixth 
i^Tade. but that the graded system made no pan'ision for 
the adei^uate development of ihese powers, Groszmann. 
^Yho descriK\< the early years of numerous exceptionally 
bright children, states his opinion as follows : " As long 
as the physical health and strengxh of children of this t>-pe 
keep pace with their mental development, there is nothing 
to fear. But they certainly need to I'k? g-iven the opportun- 
ity to live and leani according to dieir quickened rate. 
They must not be held back to chafe under the restniint 
of their vitality and initiative, and must Ix' given tasks 
commensurate to their strength and aUHty to cover 
ground." ^'^ 

Dr. Gxxidard estimates that alvut four per cent, of 
the children in the public schools possess meiual ability so 
stiperior to the average child as to demand special oppor- 
ttmities in the way of special classes and courses of sttidy 
for their development.^^ Groszmann. who points otit that 
at present exceptionally bright childreji receive less atten- 
tion dian die feeble-minded and defective, though '* they 
are intinitely more wonh while." estimates that *' their 
number is at least equal to the number of abnonnals at the 
lowest end of the scale." ^- 

Provision for Dull and Superior Children. — The prob- 
lem of arranging for the special eviucation of exceptionally 
dull and exceptionally bright children is a ver>- compli- 
cated one. It should be \'iewed merely as part of tlie 
broader problem of adapting the school offerings as far 
as possible to the individual needs of all children, including 

*"The Exceptional Child.*" lOir. P- nr 

""Two Tliousand Children Measured by the Binet Measuniv? 
Scale of Intelligence.*' PcdagOiiL-al S<'tmttar\\ vol. xviii. 1911, p. 236. 
" Ot. ciL, p. 139. 



DULL AND SUPERIOR CHILDREN 267 

the mediocre, or normal. A school system, to make 
adequate provision tor individual d'fferences, must take 
into consideration the following three factors: (i) 
Unequal rates of progress made by children of different 
degrees of brightness; (2) uneven progress in different 
sul^>jc-ts; and (3) a high degree of individual attention 
to each pupil in each z. '. every class. 

Some very elaborate systems have Ix^n devised, many 
of which include parallel courses. Thus, the well-known 
plan evolved in Cambridge, Mass., separates the pupils 
at the beginning of the fourth year into a slow and a fast 
division. The pupils of the fast division enter upon a 
program which completes the remaining work of the 
grades in four additional years; those of the slow division 
follow a program which includes the same work, but which 
is planned so as to consume six years. Since the fast 
group does in two years the same work which the slow 
finishes in three years, the two groups at the middle of 
their parallel courses arrive at the .same point. It is then 
possible to reclassify the pupils. A pupil who has been 
in the fast group for two years may \)e transferred to the 
slow group and so finish in three more years, whereas 
a pupil who has been in the slow group for three years 
may be transferred to the bright group and finish with 
that group in two more years. 

A more elaborate arrangement of parallel courses is the 
Mannheim system, established in 1899, in Mannheim, Ger- 
many. Its most distinguishing feature, perhaps, is the 
provision of " furthering classes." These classes are com- 
posed of pupils unable to keep pace with the regular classes. 
They are of seven grades, corresponding to the first seven 
grades of the regular course, but differing in that the 
work done in them is much less extensive. The children 



268 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION 

in tliese classes are not feeble-minded, they are simply 
dull, and include about ten per cent, of all the cliildren 
enrolled in the schools. The great majority of the chil- 
dren in these classes are never promoted to the normal 
classes, but simply to the next furthering class. The 
system permits, however, of the transfer of a child from 
any of the regular grades into one of these furthering 
classes, or, on the other hand, from one of the furthering 
classes to the regular grades. For the feeble-minded 
cliildren, there is provided a third course of study, the 
auxiliary school, which has only four grades. 

Besides the furdiering classes for the dull, and the 
auxiliary classes for the feeble-minded, the Mannheim 
system makes special provision for supeniomial children, 
comprising extra instruction in French for tlie sixth, 
seventh and eighth grades. After a preliminary course in 
French in the fifth grade, those pupils who have made 
good progress in this language and at die same time 
continued their good record in other subjects, and who 
are above criticism in matters of conduct and industry, 
are admitted to the regular foreign language classes. 
Pupils whose work in the foreign langaiage classes is poor 
are sent back to the regular classes. 

Whether or not such a complex process as the Mann- 
heim system is necessarv^, in order to adapt the means of 
education to the educability of the individual child, is a 
question. In small towns, at least, simpler methods will 
have to be devised. There is nothing superfluous, how- 
ever, in the accomplislunents of the ]\Iaiinheini system; 
and any system which does not solve all the problems there 
taken into consideration has very grave shortcomings. 
The aim should be to accomplish not only as much as the 
Mannheim svstem but more. Further progress is needed 



DULL AND SUPERIOR CHILDREN 269 

particularly in the treatment of exceptionally bright chil- 
dren and in the matter of individual attention to all chil- 
dren, including- always — ^the mediocre. Many people 
believe that the best provision for bright children can be 
made, from the seventh grade on, by combining the sev- 
enth and eighth grades in one system with the four years 
of high school. Such an arrangement, besides possess- 
ing independent advantages, permits the exceptionally 
gifted children to pursue various subjects of a high-school 
grade in addition to the regular work of the seventh and 
eighth grades. Linking the regular high school work 
with the upper grades facilitates the provision of spe- 
cial opportunities for the brighter pupils of those grades, 
particularly as the work of high schools, with its instruc- 
tion by subjects instead of by grades, is itself usually 
organized upon a much more flexible basis than is that of 
the grades. 

When it is feasible to keep the classes small, a fairly 
simple organization will suffice. Holmes suggests the 
following as satisfactory : 

" The work would be based on what might be called 
a course of study in the fundamentals : this work would 
be so graded as to be within the powers of all normal 
children, both quick and slow. To it would be added 
a course of optional topics to be studied by the abler 
pupils largely by themselves, in order to develop initiative 
and self -direction. . . . 

" Beginning, perhaps, at the sixth grade, the work 
would be somewhat differentiated without in the least 
breaking up the class organization." 

As a chief feature, this plan requires a " supervisor 
of Individual work." " This teacher would be in charge 
of the work of four or six rooms. In her hands would be 



2 70 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION 

the school ^velfare of all tlie individual pupils in these four 
or six rooms, but she would care especially for the abler 
pupils and also for the slow and backward. When an 
abler pupil had been promoted, of course she would sef 
that he Avas adjusted to the work of the new grade." ^^ 
As a rule, instead of one teacher to manage the education 
of both the brightest and dullest children, it is highly 
advisable to provide a separate teacher and room for each 
class of children. 

The Problem of the Feeble-minded. — In most of our 
large cities, the outstanding feature of the provision for 
exceptional children is the auxiliary class, often called an 
ungraded class. In some schools there is simply one of 
these classes for all the different school grades; in other 
schools, the auxilian' classes themselves are graded, and 
correspond to the first fotir regular grades. The pupils 
in these imgraded classes are chiefly feeble-minded chil- 
dren, ustially of the moron grade. Occasionally, how- 
ever, one meets with a child of the imbecile grade, and, on 
the other hand, there may be numerous borderline cases 
or children who are merely backward. 

These auxiliar\' classes tisually contain from ten to 
fifteen children, who ditTer* greatly in size and age, and 
W'ho are likely to impress the visitor as a motley group, 
even in those schools which have several grades, so that the 
children may be classified by mental age. The school- 
room contains, instead of the usual desks, tables and 
chairs of various sizes, which, at times, may be pushed 
aside to clear the floor for games. Arotind the sides of 
the room are work-benches, cupboards and store-cases, for 
dishes, tools, and variotis teaching materials. Sometimes 

^^ Holmes. *' School Organization and the Individual Child." 1912, 
pp. 84-86. 



PROBLEM OP FEEBLE-MINDED 271 

there is an additional room with a full kitchen and dining- 
room equipment. Where several of these classes are in the 
same building, there may be special rooms for manual 
training, for gymnastic exercises, for sewing, for cooking, 
and so forth. Sometimes one room is so equipped that it 
may be turned to any use that the instruction in hand 
makes desirable. ^^ 

Communities possessing these ungraded classes 
usually miscomprehend their function. The idea is wide- 
spread that the business of these classes is to enable 
children, by means of miracles, to '' catch up " with 
pupils in the regular grades. As a matter of fact, the 
great majority of the children in the ungraded classes, 
indeed, all who are properly there, can never be brought 
up to normal. Fortunately, this is now quite well under- 
stood by those in charge of these classes, if not by the 
community at large. 

The establishment of these ungraded classes for the 
feeble-minded in the public schools by no means solves the 
problem of subnormal children. In connection with 
every school system having classes for feeble-minded 
children, there should be, in addition, classes for dull 
children above the grade of feeble-minded. Under various 
designations, such classes now exist in a number of our 
leading cities, in addition to the classes for the feeble- 
minded. In them are included not only dull children but 
also backward children, who for one reason or another are 
simply delayed in their mental development. 

The public school ungraded classes for feeble-minded 
not only fail to solve the problem of the dull and backward 
children, but in a very serious degree fail to solve the 

" For further description, see Goddard, " School Training of De- 
fective Children," 1915, pp. 19-27. 



272 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION 

great problem with which they are particularly concerned, 
that of feeble-mindedness. The auxiliary teachers do all 
that can be reasonably expected. The trouble is that the 
children of these classes do not go to school all their lives. 
The benefit received by the school training is lost and 
sometimes worse than lost in their subsequent careers. 
Some years ago a report was published giving the after- 
history of fifty persons selected at random from former 
pupils of ungraded schools of New York.^^ The findings 
were summarized in the statement that *' the majority are 
utterly incapable." Only two of the fifty were found 
" to show signs of being able to hold permanent employ- 
ment." In spite of the fact that these cases were all 
under twenty years of age, it was evident that in numerous 
instances the temptation to an immoral or even criminal 
life could not be resisted. Several of the girls, although 
feeble-minded, were engaged to be married; others had 
already found their way into some sort of " House of 
Refuge " or penal institution. The careers of the grad- 
uates of auxiliary classes show that in a large percentage 
of cases their training has failed to enable them to become 
independent and useful members of the community. 

The proper solution of the great problem of die feeble- 
minded remains to be determined. There are numerous 
proposals. Some authorities are convinced that we must 
increase the number of our state and city institutions 
for the feeble-minded until there are accommodations 
for the whole feeble-minded population. This would 
mean that the existing facilities w^ould have to be many 
times increased, for only a small fraction of the feeble- 
minded persons in the country, certainly not over a fifth, 

"Anne Moore, "The Feeble-Minded in New York," 191 1, pp. 
45-49. 



PROBLEM OF FEEBLE-MINDED 273 

are now in institutions. Such additional provision, of 
course, would necessarily be coupled with a law giving 
to these institutions the right to retain in their custody 
all inmates likely to become sources of trouble to the com- 
munity or to reproduce their kind. 

Another proposal advocates the permanent custody of 
all feeble-minded persons except those who, by means of 
a surgical operation, have been rendered incapable of 
reproduction. With such provision, one or two genera- 
tions would certainly behold great improvement. The 
problem would then be fairly simple. Of course new cases 
of feeble-mindedness would constantly develop. Not all 
f eeble-mindedness is hereditary. It must originate before 
it can be inherited, and it will continue to originate in the 
future from the same causes as in the past. And it would 
always be impossible to relegate to institutions large num- 
bers of the great mass of border-line cases. Certainly, 
though, the number could be so reduced that the burden 
would be comparatively light. Were there institutions 
enough for the great majority of existing cases, the num- 
ber would more than suffice for future generations. 

For the present, we must admit that the idea of putting 
all feeble-minded children under the control of institu- 
tions, unless they are sterilized, is an idle dream. The 
public has not yet been educated to the point of taking the 
drastic measures that are necessary to cope properly with 
the problem. Consequently, the immediately urgent thing, 
pending such education of the public, is to provide more 
thoroughly than at present for the after-care of the 
pupils who leave the ungraded classes of the public 
schools. In France, a Committee of Patrons is appointed 
in connection with every auxiliary school. Women must 
form a part of the membership. Some such committee 



2 74 ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION 

sluniKl exist in this country tor c\orv ungraded class. 
Its duty would Ix" to tuul oniployn\oiit suitable to the 
cajvacities and character oi persons coniint;- uutler its 
jurisdiction. A cominittee. however, no matter lunv 
charitably inclined, cannot Iv expected to act with the 
constant attenticni nea.\ssary iov the after-care of the 
feeble-minded; and its authority would Ix} limited. It 
would therefore seem desirable in addition to appinnt. 
under the law, on salary anil full time, especially qualilled 
otVicers, to look after the feeble-minded jXM'sons of the 
commimity. Such otVicers cmild Ik^ discharged u[hm lax 
performance of duty. 

If the feeble-minded are io mini;ie freely in society, 
we must, in adilition to givitig more attention to after- 
care, take jxiins to detennine exactly who are the feeble- 
minded memlxTs of a comnumity. and to enforce strictly 
the laws against their marriage. This rapiires the admin- 
istering of group intelligence tests to the entire school 
population, and individual examination oi doubtful cases. 
Thus, in the course of time, a list may Ik" secured of all 
feeble-minded persons and their addresses. The after- 
care otVicers or committees, and those having authority 
to grant marriage licenses, should be fin-nished this list. 
At present there is no way of enforcing the laws agTiinst 
the marriage of the feeble-minded, Kvause. with the 
exception of low grade cases, who are nc>t likely to niarr)-, 
the feeble-minded are not detinitely known. In Minne- 
sota, at the instigation of Dr. Kuhlmann. there is now 
Iving conductetl a census of an entire county — a rather 
populous one. 1 have no doubt that when the importance 
oi this work is publicly recognized, it will be extended to 
inchule the whole state. We must know who and where 
the feeble-minded are before we can care for them. 



CHAPTER XIV 
EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

After orj^anizin^ classes to adapt education to indi- 
vidual differences in brightness, it Ixicomes necessary to 
consider the pro[>er educational methods for use with 
different classes and different individuals within these 
classes. We must analyze the processes of which education 
consists anrl determine h(jw they vary with fli ff erences 
in mental ability. We are not infrequently told that the 
principles of education are the same for a dull f>r feeble- 
minded child as for a normal or bright one. But what 
are these principles? Many of them are stated in pul>- 
lished accounts of the education of the feeble-minded, 
but it is very doubtful whether any of them, as lairl down, 
arc a})plicable to the education of children displaying the 
higher degrees of Ijrightness. The search for principles 
must \)C continued ; and we may well Ixigin it by an an- 
alysis of the methods that have for over a century been 
evolving for the erlucation of the feeble-minded. 

The Savage of the Aveyron. — Attempts to provide an 
education arlapterl to the needs of feeble-minderl children 
gfj back to the sensational experiment marie by Itard at 
the beginning of the last century on an idiot of eleven 
or twelve years of age, known as the " Savage of the 
Aveyron." First discovered Ijy hunters, during the 
eighth year of the French Republic, in a wood in the 
department of Aveyron, France, entirely naked, and seek- 
ing his nourishment from nuts and roots, he led the life 
of a savage. He was unclean, made spasmodic and con- 

275 



276 EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

vulsive movements, showed no gratitude to those who 
aided him, attempted to bite and scratch those who coerced 
him, was able to make only a few animal-like sounds, and 
seemed altogether incapable of attention. Not only was 
he utterly wanting in the ability to speak, but even his 
gestures and bodily movements showed no trace of 
expression. He passed rapidly, and without apparent 
motive, from spells of pathetic sadness to violent out- 
bursts of laughter. His sole manifestation of intelli- 
gence concerned the satisfaction of his gluttonous appe- 
tite ; yet he lacked sufficient mental acumen to climb upon 
a chair in order to obtain food placed beyond his imme- 
diate reach. 

Contrary to the opinion of Pinel, the great pioneer in 
the study of mental disorders, who held that the case 
was one of rank idiocy, Itard believed the boy was 
merely uncivilized, and possessed an intelligence simply 
untouched by any sort of education. Had he regarded 
the boy as an idiot, las one without intellig^ence, he 
would never have undertaken his training, for he 
viewed his labors as an experiment in the philosophy 
of mind, designed " to solve the metaphysical prob- 
lem of determining what might be the degree of 
intelligence and the nature of the ideas in a lad, who, 
deprived from birth of all education, should have lived 
entirely separated from individuals of his kind." ^ For 
years Itard worked with utmost patience. He was con- 
stantly devising new and ingenious methods for awaken- 
ing the senses of his pupil, for developing a power of 
speech, and for getting the boy to exercise his mind in 

^ Itard, " Rapports et memoires sur le sauvage de I'Aveyron, 
I'idiotie et la surdi-mutite," 1894, p. 9. This work is a collection of 
reprints, which includes Itard's paper of 1801 on the early develop- 
ment of the " Young Savage of the Aveyron." 



THE PHYSIOLOGICAL METHOD 277 

the satisfaction of wants. At the end of five years of daily 
experimentation, Itard came to feel, as Segiiin puts it, 
that " there were other impediments besides savageness 
in his pupil;" and in a report to the Minister of the 
Interior he confessed that his experience had been not so 
much one of progress of the pupil as of failure of the 
instructor. Notwithstanding this modesty, Itard recog- 
nized that the personality of his ward at the end of five 
years' training offered a sharp and wonderfully favorable 
contrast with its original condition. 

The improvement was summed up under three head- 
ings : First, there was a marked development of the senses ; 
second, knowledge of language was acquired to such an 
extent that the boy could name objects, designate their 
qualities and uses, express his desires, understand orders, 
and, in the words of Itard, carry on " a free and continual 
exchange of ideas; " third, in spite of a persistent desire 
to enjoy the freedom of the fields and a marked indiffer- 
ence to the pleasure of society, there finally developed a 
sense of human relationship, manifested by signs of 
affection, by pleasure at having done well and by shame 
at bad conduct.^ 

How were these wonderful results accomplished? 
In general, by what has been called the physiological 
method, an elaborate series of ingenious procedures, later 
perfected and systematized by Scguin and described by 
him in great detail.^ 

The Physiological Method. — Seguin in 1837 founded 
the first school devoted primarily to the education of 

^ Itard, op. cit., pp. 105-106. 

^ " Traitement moral, hygiene et education des idiots," Paris, 
1846. Also, " Idiocy, Its Diagnosis and Treatment by the Physiologi- 
cal Method," Albany, N. Y., 1864. Reprint published by Teachers 
College, Columbia University, 1907. 



278 EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

idiots, and was instrumental in founding some of the most 
famous of such institutions in America. His account of 
the physiological method was based upon a lifetime of 
practical experience in the education of idiots, and a bet- 
ter idea of its principles may be obtained from his exposi- 
tion than from that of Itard, or, indeed, from any of his 
followers, for his work has never been surpassed. 

The fundamental principle of the physiological method 
is more easily stated than understood. It is based on the 
concept that an individual, although a unitary machine, 
has a number of interrelated faculties or '' functions." 
Each sense is one of these functions, and so also are the 
capacities for motion and speech. Dependent upon the 
proper development of these functions are others, not 
systematically enumerated, such as memory, association, 
attention and reasoning ability. The fundamental prin- 
ciple is therefore that education should train the various 
functions or faculties by means of drill exercises. This 
operation contrasts with an education which aims merely 
at imparting information or knowledge.^ Each function 
or faculty, each system of neurones, is developed to the 
fullest possible extent. 

Montessori illuminates the method by her reference 
to experimental psychology. Her procedure, in prin- 
ciple like that of Seguin, she says is based on 
that of experimental psychology.^ She considers experi- 
mental psychology to be a science wYiich tests or meas- 
ures the various senses and other functions. These 
tests involve sensory discrimination. For example, the 
experimental psychologist tests hearing by determining the 

* Seguin, " Idiocy and Its Treatment," 1907, p. 28. 
' Montessori, " The Montessori Method," third edition, 1912, 
p. 167. 



THE PHYSIOLOGICAL METHOD 279 

smallest perceptible difference between two tones, in loud- 
ness or in pitch; color vision, by the smallest perceptible 
difference in the hue of two colors; and touch, by the 
smallest distance between two points applied to the skin 
which will permit of their recognition as two instead of 
one. Now Montessori's idea is simply that whenever a 
function is tested, it is exercised, and so by simply using 
tests suited to children, tests which interest instead of 
wearying them, the educator may turn the psychologist's 
measurements into exercises for the development of the 
senses. Every psychologist knows that any mental test 
can easily be transformed into a game, and that if he is 
willing to sacrifice the idea of measurement, the variety of 
games is considerable. For instance, instead of asking his 
subjects which of two tones is the louder, or the higher in 
pitch, familiar objects, differing in sound when dropped 
upon a table or shaken in a box, may be used, and the 
child asked to guess which object he has heard. Moreover, 
psychological tests can be classified according, to the 
various mental functions which they test. Thus the 
physiological method is a number of more or less scien- 
tific exercises for the development of various functions 
or faculties. 

The training of the senses and of motor ability has 
greatest prominence in the physiological method. None 
of the senses is ignored, not even that of smell or taste. 
They are trained mainly by acts of sensory discrimination 
or comparison. The sense of sight is trained by practice 
in the sorting of colors, such as sorting a box of variously 
colored pegs into piles each of one color. Similar sort- 
ing exercises may be for length, form or size, in place 
of color, or, instead of simply putting together those 
which are alike, the child may be trained to fit the pegs 



28o EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

into peg boards or form boards. These exercises, par- 
ticularly when the child is blindfolded, exercise the sense 
of touch. The sense of touch is further developed by 
having the child draw his fingers lightly over surfaces 
of various degrees of roughness with his eyes shut, until 
he is able to make fine distinctions. The sense of hearing 
is trained by identifying objects according to the sound 
they make, or by attempting to find on the piano a tone 
just sounded by the teacher. Great emphasis is laid also 
upon the use of music, not merely as a training for the ear, 
but as an aid to physical exercises, such as drill and 
dancing, and as a general stimulus to mental activity.^ 
Motor training, training in movement and action, is 
given by such exercises as cutting, folding, modelling, 
weaving and the use of tools. Imitation of the teacher's 
movements may also be used. At an earlier stage, it may 
be necessary to give training in elementary motor-coordi- 
nations, like those involved in standing and walking, and 
carrying objects. *' Consequently," writes Tredgold, 
" the first exercises must be directed towards teaching the 
child to maintain a proper balance of the body, to run 
and to walk, to push and pull, to seize, to hold, and to let 
go, tolerably large objects. For this purpose such exer- 
cises as mounting a ladder placed against a wall, walking 
between the rungs of a ladder placed flat upon the ground, 
marching in, out, and over various obstacles to the accom- 
paniment of music, and accurately covering with the 
feet a series of footprints chalked upon the ground, as 
recommended by Seguin, are of the highest service." '^ 
Catching and throwing a bean bag, picking up and 

* For further details, see Anderson, " Education of Defectives in 
the Public Schools," 1917, p. 104. 

^ " Mental Deficiency," 2d ed., 1916, p. 414. 



THE PHYSIOLOGICAL METHOD 



2bl 



carrying objects and innumerable other exercises are 
widely employed. 

In theory, the physiological method does not stop with 
the training of sensory and motor faculties, but usually 
it represents little else. However, even Seguin describes 
methods for the cultivation of memory and imagination 
and the moral sense, and some modern writers have listed 
exercises for the development of all the better recog- 
nized functions. Miss Morgan, for example, gives exer- 
cises, patterned somewhat after the psychologist's mental 
tests, for each of the following faculties : Sensation, per- 
ception, abstraction, association, attention, memory, 
imagination, invention, judgment and reasoning.^ These 
exercises are devised for a class of children somewhat 
above the grade of feeble-minded, including both the dull 
and the backward. 

For the light it throws upon the idea of training 
functions rather than the imparting of knowledge, and 
consequently upon the main principles underlying the 
so-called physiological method as described by its 
exponents, it is worth while to note some of Morgan's 
methods. Automatic memory is trained by having the 
child make ^' lists of common things, like the furniture in 
the kitchen at home, or all the things one cooks with, 
or all the things he has in his desk at school, or, if he 
goes to a carpentry class, all the tools he uses." " Another 
way to train automatic memory is to have the child repeat 
a series of words, numbers, or nonsense syllables which 
the teacher says to him, gradually increasing the number." 
Voluntary memory is trained by the writing of original 
rhymes. As the child learns his own rhymes by heart, he 
memorizes others on similar subjects. Gradually the 

* Morgan, "The Backward Child," 1914. 



3S-- EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

coiniuirting" to mcniory ot prose iuid verso may supple- 
nient the verse writing. Exercises for the iinvigiiuitiou 
inchide retelling: stories, illustrating; stories bv trechaiul 
drawing, and making up stories accotnjxinying colored 
pictures. Invention is trauied by picture puzzles involving 
the piecing together of fragments and by cv^nipletion tests, 
like those descrilxxl in a previous chapter, in which the 
niissing words of a stopk^ must Ix" suppUcvl. 

These methods of so-calle\l physiological education arc 
brilliantly summarizevl by Biuet ** under the heading ot 
'' Mentiil Orthoj>edics.'* The name is suggestive. As 
physical orthojHxlics corrects the jxx^ition of a spinal verte- 
bra which is out of place, so meiUal onhopcvlics corrects, 
cuhivates and strenglhens attention, memory, perception, 
iudginent and will. By this art one seeks not to impart 
knowledge of facts and ideas to the children, but to develop 
their mental faculties.^^^ Rinet cites numerous exercises, 
some tx^rroweil fn^Jin Segnin. He follows Segiiin's prac- 
tict^ of reijuiring at intervals absolute quiet and immo- 
bihty; he introduces tests of strength of grip and speei.1 
of tapping, in which the children are eticouragxxi to riv;vl 
each other: and he develops nioti^r control by having 
the childrett carr\' cups of water from one table to an- 
other without spilling a drop. An exercise of attention 
and memory, which he cmphasiL'cs particularly, employs 
a ver\' brief exposure of a large card on which a mimlx'r 
of objects are represented. The pupil must try to grasp 
in his attention all the objects on the card, and then 
write their names from memory-. A long series of such 
cards was carefully worked out. with a gradually increas- 
ing numlx^r of objects. This exercise closely corresponds 

* ' Les idces modemes sur les eiifants," I909» PP- i4o-i6i. 
"0/». cit„ p. 15a 



CRITICAL ESTIMATE 283 

to what the psychologist calls a test of the span of atten- 
tion. JJinet states that subnormal children trained on 
this test were able, with a five seconds' exposure, to note 
and hold in mind as many as nine objects, long 
enough to return to their seats and write out the names 
— a performance of which many a normal adult would 
|je incapable. 

Critical Estimate of the Physiological Method. — I 
have now described in sufficient detail the method of 
education termed physiological or orthopedic. 1 have 
tried to make clear that the main principle, in the accounts 
of those who have done most to perfect this method, 
is that education should deal with the training of men- 
tal functions. It clearly implies the existence of mental 
faculties or powers, and aims directly at the training of 
these powers. 

Whatever the explanation, education based on this 
principle of formal exercise of fundamental functions 
has been successful. Its excellence is shown by results 
with feeble-minded children, from the time of Itard down 
to the present. Morgan, who discusses serenely the train- 
ing in backward children of attention, of voluntary mem- 
ory, and so forth, says that she gathered her material 
from an experimental clinic conducted for two years in 
New York City, in which children were tested for, and 
trained in, the particular deficiency revealed in them by 
examination. The brilliant results obtained by Montes- 
sori are known to all the world. Binet did not content 
himself with the testimony of teachers, but verified their 
reports of success with subnormal children by carefully 
devised mental and educational tests.^^ Binet became 
so enthusiastic as to believe that the method which formed 

" " Les idees modernes sur les enfants," 1909, pp. 144-146. 



284 EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

the basis of the orthopedic method, so successful with the 
feeble-minded, was tlie proper one to use with normal 
children; he even went so far as to declare it to be the 
only method of genuine education. ^'^ 

The success of the method must be admitted; but it is 
exceedingly doubtful whether its success is due to the fact 
that the exercises it employs are aimed directly at the 
development of the various mental faculties, as faculties, 
rather than at the imparting of particular bits of knowl- 
edge or special arts. It is likely that the authors of 
the method have misunderstood tlie reasons for its success. 
Let us consider, for example, some of Montessori's state- 
ments. She writes that *' In a pedagogical method which 
is experimental the education of the senses must undoubt- 
edly assume the greatest importance." This education of 
the senses, she says further, '' makes men observers, and 
not only accomplishes the general work of adaptation 
to the present epoch of civilization, but also prepares 
them directly for practical life." These remarks are 
unsupported by any known facts. So far from being 
fundamental, keenness of the senses, as a previous chap- 
ter points out, plays a relatively unimportant part now 
in the determination of intelligent behavior. The corre- 
lations with intelligence shown by sensory keenness — 
that is, the ability to make fine sensory discriminations — 
are low. The correlation for tactual discrimination is 
practically zero, and for weight discrimination appears to 
be negative. No test of sensory discrimination has ever 
been demonstrated to give a correlation of over .50. 
Moreover, it should be understood that Montessori's 
methods have succeeded only with young children. No 
doubt, among the large assortment of general rules stated 

" op. cit, p. 154. 



CRITICAL ESTIMATE 285 

in Montessori's book, may be found some capable of use 
in the education of children at any age; but the body and 
substance of the Montessori method is the training of 
children toween the ages of three and seven, the kinder- 
garten ages. Now during these ages, it is true that train- 
ing in sensory discrimination should occupy a very import- 
ant place. It should do so, I would suggest, simply 1>ecause 
at these early ages, the sensory capacities have reached a 
relatively advanced stage of growth. A child is not so 
far behind a man in sensory discrimination as in the 
ability to concentrate attention or to reason. In short, 
in devoting attention to the education of the senses of a 
young child, we are training him in the occupations for 
which, at the time, he is best equipped. 

The crucial explanation of the success of the so-called 
physiological or experimental method, then, is not the 
fact that it trains the mental and physiological functions, 
but that it is adapted to the capacities possessed by the 
child — that it exercises the innately strong capacities. 
From this point of view it is easy to understand the suc- 
cess with which Seguin's methods have met in the edu- 
cation of the feeble-minded. These children, like the 
normal children trained by Montessori, were for the most 
part between the mental ages of three and seven. At these 
ages, the sensory capacitieshavecompletedsuflficient grov/th 
to be profitably trained. The capacity to make movements 
is also well developed. It is sensory training and motor 
training, consequently, that loom largest in education dur- 
ing the mental ages three to seven. Besides these, there is 
some training in memory work, particularly in rote mem- 
orizing. The memorizing capacity is usually good enough 
to justify more attention to its exercise than is custom- 
arily given. There is a prejudice against rote memory 



286 EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

training, because it is so much less useful than training in 
judgment and reasoning. But feeble-minded and young 
normal children have little capacity for judgment and rea- 
soning. Their most valuable asset is rote memory capac- 
ity. Its training should, therefore, form a conspicuous 
part in their education. 

Experiments in the Education of Children with 
Exceptional Abilities. — It begins to be clear that the study 
of methods successful with backward and feeble-minded 
children may shed light upon the general problem of relat- 
ing individual differences in intelligence to educational 
methods. The same principles apply to the education of 
exceptionally bright children as to that of the exceptionally 
dull; but these principles must be properly understood. 
The most important is that the methods employed must be 
suited to the child's capacities. These capacities are by 
no means* the same in the bright child as in the dull or 
backward child. Methods which would be ridiculous 
when used with the latter may bring about brilliant results 
with the former, ^ome illustrations of carefully recorded 
cases will make this clear. 

The education of a little girl who, at the age of 
twenty-six months, could read from any primer fluently, 
and with better expression than most first-grade children, 
has recently been described in detail by her father.^ ^ 
While the intelligence quotient of this youthful prodigy 
is not given, nor that of one of her brothers, it is stated 
that her oldest brother, aged eleven, has an intelligence 
quotient of 1.7, the highest quotient which Terman, who 
communicates the case, has ever discovered among Cali- 
fornia children. As one studies the methods which pro- 



13 << 



'An Experiment in Infant Education." Journal of Applied 
Psychology, Vol. II, 1918, pp. 219-228. 



EXCEPTIONAL ABILITIES 287 

duced such wonderful results, one cannot help but realize 
that their success must have been due to aptitudes very 
exceptional in a child of such an early age. Among the 
capacities unusually advanced in growth were the in- 
stinct of curiosity, the powers of memory and attention, 
and the desire for approbation. 

The following method, used to teach the capital letters, 
clearly indicates interests far stronger than in the average 
child. " I placed in her hands a book," writes her father, 
** which, in addition to a number of pictures interesting 
to the child mind, contained capital letters in flaring type 
and colors. She at once became interested in the pictures 
and fell into the habit of rushing to me whenever I entered 
the house, to have me show them to her. At these times 
I took her on my lap, turned to a picture, told her what the 
objects represented were, and chatted about them in such 
fashion as seemed most to arouse her interest. Occasion- 
ally I turned suddenly to the pages of capital letters, 
pointed to one of them, and exclaimed with feigned 
excitement, * Oh, Martha! Look! Look! There's P!' 
Then, without giving her time to discover the deceit and 
to determine for herself that after all there is nothing 
wildly exciting about the letter P, I returned to the pic- 
tures and excited her interest in the vicissitudes of Tom 
the Piper's son, only to turn back after a few moments 
and point with an exclamation to another letter. The 
pictures were unquestionably of great interest to her, and 
as the references to the uninteresting capitals were only 
occasional and momentary, the net result of these sessions 
was that she found the book as a whole a great joy, failed 
to discover the camouflage in the matter of the letters, 
and nevertheless became familiar with them. When she 



28S EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

was nineteen months and thirteen days old she was able 
to recognize an.d prononnce all of the capital letters/' 

l^ven, more interesting- is the method nsed in teaching 
the small letters. " I drew the letters carefnlly on the 
Ixack of Inisiness cards, and kept a few of these in my 
pockets. When she grew tired of looking at pictures 
T allowed her to play with these cards, of course calling 
her attention from time to time to the letter on the back 
of each. She became interested about this time in explor- 
ing my coat pockets and pulling the contents out of them, 
so I sometimes i)laced a few cards in a pocket open to 
attack, and allc)weil her to puU them out one at a time, 
refusing to let her have a card until she pronounced 
the letter on the one already pulled out. As this refusal 
constituted an obstacle to an interesting investigation, 
she sensibly surnunuUed it by observing the letters and 
pronouncing them in order to experience the joy of delv- 
ing into the depths of the pocket for a new card. At 
(^ther times I varied the play by sitting down with a pack 
of the cards in my hand and giving them to her one at a 
time to be carried by her across the room and delivered 
to her number or aunt, refusing to give her another until 
she told mother or aunt the name of the letter on each card 
delivered. Both mother and aunt always displayed a 
highly gratifying interest and astonishment at all infor- 
mation so volunteered by her, and she doubtless felt that 
she was playing a very important role in an extremely 
important matter. At any rate she enjoyed the process 
immensely and incidentally learned her small letters." 

The al>ove methods, it is tnie, are simply ingenious 
applications of the fundamental principle of all teaching, 
which is to link the thing which the child is to leani with 
activities in which he is already interested and which he 



EXCEPTIONAL ABILITIES 289 

naturally enjoyvS. The wonderful success of these 
methods, however, can be explained only on the postulate 
of very exceptional capacities on the part of the child, 
and the whole experiment is merely an illustration of what 
special methods may accomplish when directed towards 
the training of special capacities. 

Exceptional mental attainments cannot be produced 
by any educational methods unless exceptional al>ility of 
some sort exists in the child. On the other hand, wlicn. 
superior abilities are present, no formal methods need 
to be used. The main thing necessary is to provide oppor- 
tunity for the child to exercise these abilities freely and 
spontaneously. The child needs to be studied and intelli- 
gently guided, but will learn naturally and without fixed 
lessons or tedious drill. This naturalness of learning 
when unusual talent is given plenty of opportunity for 
its exercise is strikingly illustrated in the development 
of Winifred Sackville Stoner, Jr. The following extracts 
are taken from an account of her education written by 
her mother, when the child was twelve years old. 

"Winifred has no set lessons, but from early train- 
ing she has become such a lover of good literature that 
she would be most unhappy if deprived for a single day 
of converse with her book companions. She reads at least 
for an hour each day. At present she is reading every- 
thing she can find alxDUt Japan, .as she plans to write a 
play on this subject. For two hours she helps me as 
my secretary, answering letters, and working on * The 
Natural Educational Manual ' and ' Natural Educational 
Game Book,' two lx>oks to be ready in fall. Winifred 
and I will be joint authors of these books, and another 
lx)ok belonging solely to the kiddie, and which she calls 
' Facts in Jingles/ will be published by Bobbs-Merrill 



TOO EDUCATIONAL MKTUODS 

in :i tow ^Yeeks. Winifred has corrected proof of this 
U>ok since retnrnini;* troni New York. 

** She practices tor ^x^rhaps an hcnu* each day on IxMh 
her vioUn and piano, and anuises herself phiyinj;- for 
hitle colorevl chiklren \vho hve in cabins facini^- onr reser- 
vation, pkiying" for them on the mandohn. jew'sdiarp. or 
orchestra IxMls, 

*' One or two afternoons of each week she i^oes io the 
Ivach to swim, and on Wednesday e\enini;- she is aUowtxl 
lo attend a httle dancini^chibnntil 0.30 r.M. 

•* Nearly every pleasant Satnrday alternL^on she i;"oes 
with several friends of her ai;e canoeini;" ov Ivtaiiizing. 
As you know. North Carolina is the home of some very 
interesting" plants, among- them the \'enns tly-trap. bladder- 
wort, pitcher-plant, and other caniivorons n\emlxTs of 
the plant family. Winifred is intensely interested in 
these plants, and has sent sjxvimens to a nnmlxM* of our 
friends in northern cities, 

** Each moniing she plays at least one gume of tennis 
Ix^fore breakfast, and after dinner in the evening she 
and I play croi]uet or take long walks through the white 
s:tndy tracts aroimd our home. 

** At least tifteen minutes is spent in the kitchen each 
day gaining knowledge of culinax)- matters, and yesterday 
Winifred made a skirt for herself. 

'* On one oi our up-stairs [xirches I have a regtilar 
gymnasium. :uid here every afternoon, when we are at 
home, we exercise for at least one half hour before taking 
a shower- txith and rub-down. 

" The little girl has learned how to drive an autv^- 
niobile, and occasionally 1 let her drive wlien we take 
motor-trips. She drives :Uso her horse Coujxmi. :uid oc- 
casionallv rides horseback. . . . 



EXCEPTIONAL ABILITIES 291 

"Winifred has a canary which she has tamed and 
taught to do many wonderful tricks, and while she writes 
her stories on the typewriter he sits on the carriage of 
the machine and sings to her. To-morrow she is to 
receive a monkey and poll-parrot from a sea-captain, and 
then you will believe that there will be no time for study 
of bcjoks, as the pets will take up every spare moment. 

*' 1 am writing to you of these trivial matters s^j as 
to paint a picture of the simple, happy, full life Winifred 
leads at this chrysalis time of life, when no child must 
Ixi forced to study or to play." ^* 

Winifred Stoner at six months could talk ; at eighteen 
months, read; and at five years, speak eight languages. 
She has specialized in music, art and eurhythmic dancing. 
She is said to be a perfect specimen of physical health 
and strength, and to be altogether free from conceit. 

There are a numlx;r of types of supernormal chil- 
dren. Some are merely precocious, that is, growing at 
an exceptionally rapid rate; when grown up, they may 
not Ije especially intelligent, but they mature early. 
Others, who may grow either fast or slowly, have a really 
superior mental endowment. This superiority may be 
quite general, and apply to the great bulk of their mental 
faculties. In other cases, while the general level of the 
mental capacities may 1^ above normal, only one or a very 
ties. One capacity may be very superior, while the others 
course no child is equally developed in all of his capaci- 
ties. One capacity may be very superior while the others 
may be only slightly so, or even mediocre. The superior 
capacities of exceptional children of this latter type may 
l^>e easily overlooked by the teacher. Indeed, it is fre- 
quently alleged that some of the great men of history, 

"Groszmann, "The Exceptional Child," 1917, Pp. 108-111. 



293 EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

Avho did poorly in school ^vork, ^vere meii of one-sidei.i 
development, whose \-aluable traits \vere not appreciateii 
by their scliool teachers, but were given opportunity for 
their development outside of school. 

The education of children who show only a one-sided 
exceptional capacity should take its cue from tlieir special- 
ties. Naturally we should desire to prevent a one-sided 
development, and to produce a child of well-balanced 
character and intellect. This c^mot be done, however, 
by ignoring- the child's special aptitude and attempting 
to educate him along lines unrelated to his specialty. I f we 
tr}- this, we shall simply find him a stupid child. It is 
necessar}- to make use of the special talejit, to use it 
and the interests related to it as a starting point, as a Ixise 
from which to conduct our entire educational campaign, 
extending into all the fields of learning. 

A ver}' good illustration of supernonnal ability, in 
Avhich one trait in particular stood out above all others, 
is afforded by one of the boys trained in the laboratory 
school of the National Association for the Study and 
Edtication of Exceptional Children in Plainfield. New 
Jersey. This boy, thirteen years of age, was of a decid- 
edly inquisitive type, and possessed to a high degree 
initiative and the tendency to original experimentation. 
This highly desirable side of his character was in danger 
of being suppressed by his teachers because coupled with 
mischievous tendencies. He " built fires in the cellar 
of his home, not from viciousness, btit because he wanted 
to see what would happen. He played innumerable 
pranks on his schoolmates and teachers, who did not 
imderstand him. so that he was constantly in mischief 
and upset all discipline." Taken into the laboratory- 
school, however, '* his inquisitive tendency was made use 



EXCEPTIONAL ABILITIES 293 

of through experimental studies of all kinds, in the science 
laboratory, in the workshop, in road and building con- 
struction and in many other ways. He was given oppor- 
tunity to apply his great energy in numerous outdoor 
games and sports, playing Indian, building wigwams, 
camp-fires, etc. His book-studies were carefully coordi- 
nated with this life activity." ^^ The effect of this treat- 
ment was to change his entire mental and emotional atti- 
tude, and after leaving the laboratory school, he was 
reported as standing at the head of his classes in select 
private schools. 

Sometimes a high order of intelligence is accompanied 
by defects which make it imperative to base education 
upon the use of the stronger faculties. A striking 
instance is described in detail by Bronner. " We know," 
she writes, "of a boy now 14 years old whose entire 
school career has undoubtedly been greatly modified for 
the better because his intelligent parents understood bet- 
ter than his teachers the harm that was resulting from 
the use of methods not adapted to his defective functioning 
in certain mental processes. It was early recognized 
that the boy had poor auditory powers and exceptionally 
good visual powers. When five years old he drew a 
very good representation of the fagade of an ancient 
university building he had seen, and at seven made a 
most complicated drawing of a quadruple expansion 
waterworks engine. Though a great effort was made 
from the time he was a year old or so to teach him 
Mother-Goose rhymes and other couplets, he never recited 
correctly the simplest verse until he was six years old; 
nor has he ever been able to carry a tune correctly or 
sing a song, in spite of intensive and oft-repeated attempts 

"Groszmann, op. cit., p. 121. 



294 EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

to teach hini simple iiuisic. It is interesting to note, for 
instance, that * America ' has Ixvn snng- atul played to 
him hnndreds of times and even played by him without 
his acquiring the ability to sing it. 

*' At live years of age this lx\v was sent to a fnie private 
school where the teaching in the first grades was largely 
oral. When in the third grade he wus placed in a sub- 
class for kickward children Kx^ause he was so retarded 
in number work. Though the Lx^y made no progress 
in music nor in memorizing verses, this was not inter- 
preted as of any sii^niit'icance, nor was any elYort made 
to utilize his good visual powers in place of his defective 
powers of audition. When, however, his parents were 
told (by an unusually competent teacher) that the Ix^y 
was not leaniing arithmetic aud was prolxably defective 
in this t>'pe of work, they themselves began to teach him 
by visual presentations. In two weeks he had not only 
mastered the work assigiied the grade, but led his class. 
In the next two years, acquiring the power to leani by 
visualization, he accomplished the ordinary work of four 
school grades. . . . His powers of perceiving logi- 
cal relationships are extremely good, and these, together 
with his quite unusual visual gifts, enable him to maintain 
class standings considerably in advance of his years." ^® 

The preceding concrete examples suggest several prac- 
tical conclusions. One important point is that we must 
make a more systematic elYort to discover unusual gifts 
or unusual abilities about which to focus a training that 
w\\\ lead to the most useful development. Educational 
efforts must be devoted to bringing out at each period 
of his life the best there is in the child. In this connection 

"**The Psychology' of Special Abilities and Disabilities." 1917, 
pp. 2s:si-224. 



EXCEPTIONAL ABILITIES 395 

I have been greatly interested in the very successful 
experiment being carried on in a large school system in a 
neighboring city, with children of superior brightness. 
By means of intelligence tests, those children are selected 
whose mental ages indicate that they ought to be doing 
more advanced school work. These children are then 
given further mental examinations and individual study 
by a special teacher, who aims to discover their leading 
aptitudes and interests, to create more favorable mental 
attitudes on the part of the children towards their work 
and their teachers, and finally to prepare them for a 
trial in the higher grades which accord with their advanced 
mental ages. I am informed that the great majority 
of these children are now doing better work in the grades 
to which they have been advanced than in the grades 
in which they were originally discovered. 

A word of caution must be added. I have said that 
a more systematic effort should be made to discover 
special abilities and special interests — in both dull and 
superior children — and that the training given children 
should afford opportunity for the development of these 
exceptional capacities. This does not mean, however, that 
we should determine in which one of his mental faculties 
a child is strongest, and then devise formal exercises for 
the development of this faculty to the exclusion of the 
rest. The ideal is to train all his really valuable capacities 
so that they may obtain their greatest usefulness. The 
development of intellect and character must be as many- 
sided as is consistent with a proper balance between time, 
energy and cost on the one hand and the results that are 
likely to be achieved on the other. But whatever capacity 
we are trying to train or whatever art or knowledge we 
are trying to impart, we shall succeed best by beginning 



296 EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

where the child is strong and working out gradually into 
regions where he is weak, by organizing our endeavors as 
much as possible into a related system in which the funda- 
mental appeal is to the child's natural aptitudes. Only in 
this way can we get out of the child his greatest effort, the 
limit of hard work and drudgery of Avhich he is capable, 
and the development of a strong character. 

The Training of Mental Capacities. — It remains to 
consider what it means to train a capacity. In general, 
it may be said that training cannot increase the funda- 
mental capacities, but simply teaches the cliild to make the 
best use of such capacities as he possesses. This training 
may consist in the formation of very general habits, such 
as habits of concentration of attention and the most 
efficient methods of study, or it may consist in specific 
information, such as the multiplication table. In teaching 
the child the more general habits, formal exercises may 
be used. These formal exercises, like tlie exercises for 
training the senses, which are so prominent in the physio- 
logical method, often seem to be aimeH at the develop- 
ment of faculties as such. In reality, however, they con- 
sist simply in drill for the formation of habits which are 
useful in a very wide range of situations. To train a 
cliild's capacities, then, does not mean to give him more 
memory, Diorc attention, or viore reasoning power, but 
rather to lead him to memorize that which is most useful, 
to attend to those things which are most w^orth while, 
and to reason out problems of ever-increasing weight. 

Let us consider somewhat more in detail the training 
of a mental capacity — for instance, the capacity for atten- 
tion. Capacity for attention, like that of intelligence, is 
determined mainly by heredity, environment before the 
age of school, and by growth, As a general power of 



TRAINING OF MENTAL CAPACITIES 297 

the mind, a general capacity or faculty, it is as little sub- 
ject to increase by education or to improvement by train- 
ing as is general intelligence.^^ Therefore, all that train- 
ing of attention really means is that, by a change in the 
conditions under which attention is given, and by a reduc- 
tion, through habit and familiarity, of obstacles to its 
application, there may be brought about, in many direc- 
tions, a greater ease of mental concentration. 

Before any change can be made in the conditions 
affecting attention, one must ascertain the nature of these 
conditions. There is, in the first place, a considerable 
variety of objects w^hich secure the attention even when 
that capacity is very feeble indeed. Among these are 
loud sounds and bright lights, strong odors and severe 
pressure on the skin — in short, all very intense stimuli. 
The great attention value of intense stimuli is enhanced by 
the factors of suddenness or novelty and of movement 
or rapid changes of any sort. Sometimes, too, a stimulus 
which is not strong enough to attract attention upon its 
first occurrence will do so by dint of repetition. Atten- 
tion to such stimuli represents the earliest stage, known 
as passive or spontaneous attention, and is said to be due to 
the " objective " conditions of attention. 

In addition to things which provoke notice through 
the objective conditions, there are others which arouse 
interest because of their relation to instinctive tenden- 
cies. The most fundamental instinct is that of self-preser- 
vation. It is partly on account of this instinct that 
intense, sudden and changing stimuli have such a strong 
appeal. They are often dangerous. But even when the 
object is not intrinsically of the sort to attract attention, 

" Woodrow, " The Measurement of Attention." Psychological 
Monographs, 1914, No. 76, p. 141. 



298 EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

it ^vill do so if it is iittcil to bring- out some instinctive 
tendency — for example, that of self-presenation. That 
this tendency is recognized and accepted as an important 
factor in attention is seen in its application, by the ingeni- 
ous primary teacher, to reading lessons. The teacher 
draws on the blacklx^ard a picture of a house, and fills 
the interior space with common words, each of which 
represents one of the children in her class. She then 
tells the children that someone has set fire to the building 
and that only those can be saved whose naiiies are read. 
When a child reads a word it is erased and thus in imag- 
ination they rescue themselves from the tliuiies. So inter- 
ested do the children become in preserving their ** lives/' 
that they learn unfamiliar words with renewed interest and 
increased attention. Again, an object which may satisfy 
hunger will attract the attention even of an idiot. Thus 
tlie savage of the Aveyron, though insensible to the loud- 
est noises — he seemed not to notice a pistol shot — could 
nevertheless hear the fall of a nut ! 

There are many other instincts than that of self- 
preservation which promote attention to the objects with 
which they are concerned. It is impossible to give a 
complete list of them, because their expression is so indefi- 
nite and so quickly modified by learning. Among the 
more obvious ones are fear, anger, love and affection, 
sociability and sympathy, desire for approbation, rivalry, 
lighting, loyalty, imitation, all the numerous forms of 
play and gaming, curiosity, collecting and constructive 
tendencies, hunting and roaming, and the regulative 
instincts of morality and religion. ^^ In general, when- 
ever an interest is shown naturally by many children, we 

"See Kirkpatrick, "Fundamentals of Child Study," 1917, chap- 
ters iv-xiii. 



TRAINING OF MENTAL CAPACITIES 299 

may be sure that it is a tendency at basis instinctive, that 
is, one which does not need to be learned, but occurs spon- 
taneously on account of the inherited disposition of the 
nervous system. Each instinct involves an action, or 
general line of conduct, of a sort to satisfy some want 
or need. It is a response made to some stimulus, some ob- 
ject or situation which attracts attention in a powerful 
manner without any effort on the part of the subject. The 
appeal to the child's attention exerted by the primary or 
original excitants of an instinct is rapidly extended to 
everything in any way associated with these originally 
interesting objects, as well as to all the means for suc- 
cessfully carrying out the instinctive activities. 

Spontaneous attention, caused by the sheer intensity, 
or force, of the external stimuli which excite the senses, 
and instinctive attention, brought alx)ut by the direct 
appeal to instincts, are hardly above the animal level. In 
all normal persons there develops from these a higher 
attention, embracing matters only indirectly connected 
with the satisfaction of wants. This sort of attention is 
called out when the child meets with some obstacle to 
the immediate carrying out of an instinctive response. 
A problem which at first protrudes itself upon his atten- 
tion because of its instinctive interest for him, later 
acquires a new and higher interest through the mere fact 
that it has already attracted attention. For it is a funda- 
mental law that a certain familiarity with an object or 
situation, knowledge about it or past experience with it 
makes it interesting and easy to attend to. Thus new inter- 
ests are derived from instinctive interests, which in turn 
develop still others, until we finally reach the highest 
stage, that of sustained attention to abstract problems. 

There is no more fascinating nor valuable study for 



30O EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

the teacher than that of development in her pupils of one 
interest upon the basis of another. She may obser\-e, 
for example, that at first the instinctive desire of appro- 
bation from his teacher, as wcW as fear of her, may lead 
a child to follow directions. In doing so, he meets \vith 
difficulties which hold his attention simply because the 
teacher is over him. but whicli. provided the tasks imposed 
are closely related to instinctive activities, may in time 
become interesting of themselves. Through working w^ith 
arithmetic problems bearing ujK>n the construction of 
kites, or upon the playing of store, the child may acquire 
an interest in arithmetic for itself, independent both of 
its connection with his pastimes and of his desire to please 
his teacher. Having acquired an interest in arithmetic 
problems, he may, in turn acquire an interest in the 
higher branches of mathematics, partly because in them 
he meets with items ^^'ith which he is already familiar, 
and partly because he needs these higher branches in 
solving the arithmetical problem in which he has now 
become interested. 

The preceding hasty sketch of the various types of 
conditions which call out attention should suggest an 
understanding of what is involved in the training of at- 
tention. This, as I have stated, does not mean increasing 
the fundamental power, but merely directing its appli- 
cation to the loftiest and most profitable topics. 

In children of the lowest level of brightness, the idiots, 
even the power of spontaneous and instinctive attention is 
very feeble. Many instincts are lacking, the only one 
approaching dependability being the instinct to satisfy 
hunger. Children witli attention of tliis sort have to l>e 
trained, like animals, through reward by food. Even 
food, however, will not hold their attention for any length 



TRAINING OF MENTAL CAPACITIES 301 

oi time; for at each distraction their attention is (Hverted 
from its original object and does not return. All that 
can Ixi accomplished with these children is to teach them 
to feed themselves and to keep themselves clean; their 
/)ower of attention is not great enough for the accom- 
j^lishment of more complicated tasks. 

In the higher degrees of feeble-mi ndedness and in 
dull children, the power of attention has greater strength. 
It cannot be trained, however, for long occupation with 
non-instinctive activities. It is hopeless to expect these 
children ever to devote themselves assiduously to book 
learning or to abstract ideas. Their education must be 
primarily through play and games and limited to those 
crjncrete activities — responses to real objects rather than 
])rinted symbols — in which the instincts naturally and 
with little modification manifest themselves. Even under 
these favorable conditions, short periods of exertion, say 
of half an hour or an hour, must be followed by a rest. 

Play, it is true, is a great educational factor in the 
life of any child, whatever his age or brightness. Games 
and playful occupations suited to children of every age 
exist in great numlxT, and much care has been expended 
in developing their educational possibilities. Entire 
courses of education by means of play-schools have Ixtcn 
worked out and put into successful operation. It is with 
children of the lower mcnital ages, however, that the use 
of play and games is particularly indispensa?jle. Their 
feeble attentions require constantly the support of the 
interest accompanying pleasurable activity. 

In addition to definite games, there are innumerable 
playful activities which have especially great educational 
value. Among these may be mentioned the following: 
Collections (minerals, stamps, coins) ; cooking, particu- 



302 EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

larly for girls; drawing; field work (study of butterflies, 
birds, fishes, flowers and ferns) ; flower and vegetable 
gardening; mechanics, such as the making and sailing of 
boats, putting together various kinds of machinery and 
making toys; dancing and dramatics; music (singing, 
orchestra and piano); photography; sloyd (basketry, 
cardboard and paper work and wood work) ; and print- 
ing.^ ^ Of all these activities perhaps none has such a 
Avide appeal as dramatics. The dramatic instinct, whether 
expressing itself in the playing of Indian or Eskimo or 
in the production of a Shakesperian tragedy, is a force, 
which, if given opportunity for its development, is of 
invaluable help in the teaching of language, of manners, 
of decoration and mechanical construction and of sewing 
and costuming, and lastly, in the implanting of noble 
and influential thoughts which will inspire and elevate 
throughout a life-time. 

With young normal children and with dull or feeble- 
minded children of any age, it is imperative to make a 
careful forecast of the maximal attainments of attention, 
and then to plan out a method of linking these attain- 
ments as closely as possible with the most free and 
natural expression of the child's instincts. At every 
stage, it should be made certain that there exists a strong 
appeal to a natural tendency to action on the part of the 
child, for otherwise he cannot be expected to persist in his 
efforts to the neglect of the slightest distraction. With 
these children, the difference between a wise educational 
method and a foolish one is that the former endeavors 

" For details concerning the educational use of these activities, 
see Johnson, "Education by Plays and Games," 1907, pp. 51-64. See 
also Hetherington, "The Demonstration Play School of 1913," 
University of California Publications^ Education, Vol. V, No. 2. 



TRAINING OF MENTAL CAPACITIES 303 

to lead the child's attention to simple, useful occupations 
instead of attempting to direct it upon book learning. 

With normal children, the ordinary school subjects, 
which have been selected through generations of experi- 
ence, offer excellent training of attention. They provide 
topics of interest, of a gradually increasing complexity, 
and as items of information, possess a degree of import- 
ance difficult of exaggeration. The main need here is a 
more careful consideration of individual interests. The 
most effective leading of attention can be secured only by 
utilization of individual tendencies and interests, whether 
instinctive or acquired. The thing upon which it is 
desired to have the child concentrate must be connected 
with his individual interests — not simply with those of 
children as an abstract class of beings. In the words of 
McMurry, " Each study must be intimately related to the 
pupil — to each pupil, just as far as possible. It is 
expected to appeal to his ambition and establish purposes 
within him; to give him practice in judging the relative 
values of facts as they bear on these purposes, which 
would be impossible if he sensed little value in the projects 
or purposes themselves ; to lead him likewise to organize 
data, use knowledge frequently, and do all these things 
largely on his own initiative and in an independent way.*' ^^ 
To thus vitalize a study for the pupil and at the same 
time to connect it with the life of society in general, 
McMurry reminds us of the value of live, interesting 
questions. " The idea is that a study is ideally a sum 
of live questions, alive both to the adult and to the child ; 
and that a good course of study in any branch of knowl- 

*"The Uniform Curriculum With Uniform Examinations." 
Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the National Education 
Association, 1913, p. 135. 



304 EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

edge is a sum of such problems along one great line of 
interest, organized in good sequence and containing data 
enough to furnish satisfactory answers to the problems." 
The setting of interesting questions is certainly one of the 
most fundamental ways of securing attention. As one 
high authority writes in a discussion of how to secure 
attention, '* Man is blind to what does not correspond 
to his momentary purpose." The purpose may be aroused, 
this authority continues, by a question asked by another, 
or by some task that has been set, or problem that has 
been raised.^^ McMurry gives the following questions 
as illustrations of questions which are both interesting 
to the pupil and related to social life : ^^ 
In Physiology and Hygiene: 

What are the uses of food in the body? 

How keep the digestive organs in health? 

How care for the teeth ? 

How take care of the nervous system? 
In Arithmetic, in the early primary grades: 

How read the street numbers, and house numbers 
about us? 

How use money for travel on street cars? 

What quantities of milk and cream are commonly 
bought ? Make out bills for given amounts. 

How keep score for the game of bean bag, dominoes, 
etc. ? Make out such scores. 
In History: 

What has been our treatment of the Indians ; and what 
seems to be our plan in regard to them in the future? 

On what occasions has the union of our states been 
threatened; and is it now permanently established? 

"^Pillsbury, "The Fundamentals of Psychology," 1916, p. 254. 
^ Op. cit., pp. 135-136. 



TRAINING OF MENTAL CAPACITIES 305 

In exceptionally bright children, one may confidently 
expect that, long before its growth is completed, the 
capacity for attention will become sufficiently powerful 
for sustained study of difficult subjects. The natural 
curiosity and ambition of such children lead them of their 
own initiative to undertake tasks to which the attention 
of normal children can scarcely be held by all the artifices 
of the expert teacher. Such children — often neglecting 
the humdrum routine of their regular classes — follow 
out elaborate courses of study in foreign history, in litera- 
ture, in mechanical construction and in the scientific study 
of plants and animals and of rocks. With these children, 
then, above all others, pains should be taken to encourage 
the use of initiative — that great quality upon which de- 
pends true leadership, research and discovery, and conse^ 
quently the progress of humanity at large. 

Especial care should be taken, also, to develop the 
sense of duty and of responsibility to others. One of the 
most crying needs of society to-day is that the possessors 
of superior intellects should enlist in public service instead 
of engaging solely in their own selfish advancement. 
Not only in superior children, but in all children, to incul- 
cate a sense of the individual's duty to society, to impart 
those ideals and habits which characterize the desirable 
citizen, should be a fundamental aim of education. But 
this development of the social sense is particularly import- 
ant in the exceptionally bright child. He is the one 
who, when grown up, will have by far the greatest surplus 
of ability beyond the needs of his own support, the one 
who will be best able to serve society; and yet, just be- 
cause of the ease of his success, he is the one in whom 
the sense of duty and responsibility is least likely to be 
developed by the ordinary school curriculum. 



3o6 EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

That the appeal of social service is capable of exercis- 
ing a powerful influence on children of superior ability is 
vividly illustrated by an instance that came to my notice 
while carrying on an investigation in one of the Minnea- 
polis public school classes. There was one boy in this 
class v^ho had been advanced from the preceding grade 
l^ecause of a superior intelligence quotient. He had done 
only average Avork in his old grade, and when promoted, 
promptly settled down to the same mediocre position in 
the more advanced grade. One day, after recess, this 
boy came in and found the children who sat in the same 
row of desks as he did complaining to the teacher be- 
cause their row didn't get more of the stars given as 
rew^ards. The teacher turned to the boy as he came in, 
and said, '' Do you know what they are saying about 
you?" When he replied with surprise in the negative, 
the teacher explained that the other children were blam- 
ing him, claiming they didn't get the stars because he 
wouldn't work. The other children joined in a chorus, 
'* It's all your fault." The boy turned perfectly wdiite; 
it was clear that he was strongly affected. Before this 
time, he had not wanted to succeed; but henceforth 
he felt that he was working for the group and not for 
himself ; and under this new stimulus he secured almost 
uniformly a grade of one hundred per cent., and at the 
end of the year ranked at the top of his class. This 
incident illustrates the effectiveness of social pressure as 
an incentive to persistent attention and work. 

The principles of education of attention apply to the 
education of other mental capacities. The aim is not to 
increase the amount of any capacity, but to lead the child 
to make the best possible use of it. In regard to memory, 
William James has never been proven wrong. " No 



TRAINING OF MENTAL CAPACITIES 307 

amount of culture," he wrote, "would seem capable of 
modifying a man's general retentiveness. This is a 
physiological quality, given once for all with his organi- 
zation, and which he can never hope to change." ^^ *' All 
improvement of memory consists, then, in the improve- 
ment of one's habitual methods of recording facts." ^^ 
It is true that the observations on which James based his 
conclusions were faulty. He conducted experiments indi- 
cating that practice in memorizing one kind of material 
does not improve one's speed in memorizing material of a 
different sort. They have since been repeated under more 
exact conditions, and it is to-day well established that 
practice with one kind of material aids in the memorizing 
of all kinds of material in any way similar to that used 
in practice. But this transference of training is due to an 
acquisition of correct technique of memorizing, or else 
to identical elements in the different kinds of material; 
and while improvement in the technique of study is highly 
valuable, it consists in a formation of habits which is 
within the capacity of persons of either good or bad mem- 
ory, and which aid rather than increase this capacity. 

The education of powers of judgment and reason 
is bound up with that of memory and attention. The 
child may be taught the technique of reasoning and led 
to apply his powers in this respect to problems lying 
in many useful fields of human endeavor. He may be 
encouraged to exercise his powers, and given the chance 
to acquire the knowledge upon which the success of their 
exercise is dependent. The first stage in the training 
of reasoning plainly is the provision of a wide experience 
extending beyond the class-room and embracing first-hand 

" '• Principles of Psychology," Vol. I, 1890, p. 663, 
** Op. cit., p. 667. 



3o8 EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

observation, so that the child may acquire a considerable 
knowledge of facts; for one cannot reason without facts. 
In higher stages, the child's attention may be directed to 
problems which lie in those fields of his own experience 
most likely to prove of value in later years. Here he 
requires help and encouragement, particularly in the mat- 
ter of learning, to test the correctness of his solutions 
by experiment. 

The capacity for emotion is clearly either strong or 
weak in spite of education. No education can make 
a phlegmatic person emotional nor an emotional per- 
son phlegmatic. The educational problem is to effect 
an association of the individual's natural emotional 
responses with the right situations. We cannot change 
the amount of elation of a child at success, but we can 
constrain him to give vent to this emotion only at 
the right kind of success. We can create new desires 
and destroy old fears. The proper treatment of fears 
and desires, said to be the two greatest motive forces 
of mankind, is one of the most difficult and misunder- 
stood, and, at the same time, one of the most fundamental, 
of all the problems of teaching. The emotion of fear in a 
child may be so strong and so easily aroused that it will 
completely stultify his mental development. A remark- 
able case has recently been described by Witmer, a pioneer 
in the psychological study of subnormal children, and an 
expert in their training, in which, apparently, a state not 
far from f eeble-mindedness was due primarily to excessive 
fears, leading to an ostrich-like inattention to every new 
thing or person. Once these fears were overcome, the 
development of the child's decided positive abilities pro- 
ceeded with amazing rapidity .^^ 

'""What I Did With Don^" Ladies' Home Journal, April, 
1919, p. SI. 



TRAINING OF MENTAL CAPACITIES 309 

Education must accept the capacities of a child as it 
finds them, and, by affording them every exercise possible, 
make them fit to render their greatest service. This 
does not necessarily mean that there is no value in formal 
exercises designed to develop this or that mental function. 
Memory lessons, attention lessons, and reasoning lessons 
have their use. They provide a mental technique, methods 
of mental procedure, which may prove useful in an end- 
less variety of situations. Very likely it would be wise 
to provide formal " reasoning training " for exception- 
ally bright children at the higher mental ages, just as we 
provide sensory and motor training for children of the 
lower mental ages. Such exercises could be patterned 
after the tests I have described in a previous chapter 
as tests of logical-mindedness — tests involving the ability 
to pick out from a number of reasons the best one in sup- 
port of a given statement, or to select the best conclusion 
from a number given as following certain specified prem- 
ises; tests requiring the formation of a principle; tests of 
analysis and synthesis, involving the process of pointing 
out likenesses and differences, and exercises in the formu- 
lation of definitions and the recognition of absurdities. 
The possible value of reasoning lessons, imagination 
lessons, morality lessons, and so on, needs further study. 
Such lessons might form a valuable supplement to read- 
ing lessons, history lessons and arithmetic lessons. 

By adapting our methods to the capacities of the child, 
by basing education upon an inventory of these capacities, 
we immediately become aware of numerous consequences 
of the greatest aid to our educational efforts. We find 
that we are providing exercises in which the child shows 
interest; that we are asking him to do things which he 
enjoys doing, because in their accomplishment he experi- 



3IO EDUCATIONAL METHODS 

ences the best success of which he is capable ; that, because 
the appeal is to his natural interests, the child is willing to 
persist in his efforts in spite of fatigue and hardship. Of 
course, the teacher is never relieved from the necessity of 
broadening the child's interests, by associating them with 
allied interests; nor from the necessity of tlie judicial use 
of all the incentives to work which she commands, whether 
these be such natural ones as rivalr>% curiosity and the in- 
herent rewards of success, or such artificial ones as prizes 
and special privileges ; but she will find that she is working 
with the child instead of against him. Spontaneity and 
enthusiasm will be displayed by the pupil, so that the 
teacher may be transformed from a tiresome drillmaster 
into a guide to the child's best development. 

From the point of view of society, each child will be 
trained to his maximal usefulness, and prepared to fit 
into his proper place in the social organization. Social 
solidarity, the subordination of the individual to society, 
is not to be attained by attempting to make everyone alike. 
The unity of society is, and must be, that of a complex 
structure, not that of a sand-like, homogeneous mass. 
Consequently, by adapting our educational methods in the 
case of each child to his capacity for serving society, 
we pursue the course best calculated to preserve the integ- 
rity of the social organism, and at the same time best 
designed to develop that spirit of which democracies 
are so justly proud, the spirit of individual initiative 
and resourcefulness. 



INDEX OF AUTHORS 



Abelson, A. R., 158, 226 

Anderson, H. M., 58 

Anderson, M. L., 280 

Aristotle, 214 

Ashhy, H., 241 

Ayres, L. P., 82, 95, 125, 131, 134 

Bagley, W. C, 168 

Baldwin, B. T., 118 

Bean, R. B., 100, in, 115 

Beik, A. K., loi 

Binet, A., 22, 149, 158, 194, 210, 

282, 283 
Bolxjrtag, O., 46 
liolton, J. vS., 65, 77 
Bonser, F. G., 178, 193, 265 
liosbauer, H., 93 
Bridges, J. W., 29, 58 
Brenner, A. F., 293 
Brown, Wm., 183 
Brugmans, H. J. T. W., 230 
Burt, C, 155, 184, 187, 189, 226 

Cajal, I^mon Y., 63 

Carey, N., 158, 165, 184, 230 

Carman, A., 158 

Carr, H. W., 198 

Cattell, J. McK., 20, 21, 253 

Chapman, . C, 142 

Clousto , T. S., 93 

Coler, L. E., 58 

Colvin, S. S., 168 

Consoni, F., 149 

Crjmell, W. vS., 87, 91 

Crampton, C. W., 100, 116 



Dessfjir, M., 215 
Doll, E. A., 44 
Down, J. L., 25 
Drummond, W. B., 86 
Duncan, P. M., 25 

Earle, E. L., 238 
Ebbinghaus, H., 149 
Elderton, E. M., 237 
Esquirol, 25 

Femald, G. G., 203 
Fletcher, O. O., 216 

Gall, 217 

Galton, F., 9, 10, 19, 20, 240, 247 

GiUx,'rt, J. A., 21 

Gillette, A. G., 133 

Godflard, H. H., 26, 29, 118, 242, 

260, 266 
Groszmann, M., 266, 291, 293 
Gulick, L. H., 95 

Hammarberg, J,, 75 
Hardwick, R. S., 29 
Hart, B., 223, 228 
Heeter, S. L., 133 
Henri, V., 22 
Hetherington, C. W., 302 
Heymans, G., 230 
Hoffmann, A., 58 
Holmes, W. H., 269 



Itard, 276, 277 



3" 



3" 



INDEX OF AUTHORS 



Jackson, J. M., 105, 1 06 
James, Wm., 306 
Johnson, G. E., 184, 302 
Jung, C. G., 171 

Kclloy, R. L., 21 

King, I., 229 

Kitkpatriok, E. A., 81), 147, 298 

Konihausor, A. W., 59 

Kniepolln, E., 20 

Kniogor, F., 154 

Kuhhnann, P., 29, 41), 193-195 

I^ipagc, C. P., 92, 95 

I.iiuiaous, 45 

lA)o\viMifoUl, L., 248 

Lovvoll, F., 40, 135, 163, 173, 174, 

194 

Luiton, F. E., 127, 133 

Macnamarn, N. C, 198 
^farshall, TT. R., 198 
McCnW, \V. A., 164, 229 
MoDiHigall, Wni., um, 198 
MoMuny, C. A., 303, 304 
Mcnill, M., 261 
Momniuni, E., 165 
Miklas, L., 93 
Millard, W., 25 
Minor, J. B., 33 
Mitcholl, D., 260 
MiMiroe, W. S., 142 
Montessori, M., 278, 283, 284 
Mooiv, A., 272 
Moi-g:m, B. S., 281, 283 
Morgan, C. L., 198 
Myers, C. S., 161, 198 

Norsworthy, N., 53, 179 



Ordalil, ]<:. O., 89 
Ordahl, G., 89 

ratorsou, D. G., 53 
Pearson, K., 237, 239 
Pflaundor, M., 69 
Pillshury, W. B., 227, 304 
Pinel, 276 
Pinlner, R., 53 
Portcous, S. D., 56 
Porter, W. T., 117 
Pry or, J. W., 101, no, in 
Punnelt, R. C, 244 
Pyle, W. II., 178 

Rogers, A. C, 24 
UcSiner, F., i7(>, 177 
Roteh, T. M., 101, 115, 120 
Rush, G. P. 142 
Rusk, R. R., 167 

Semnnion, R., 66 

Sehiner, II., 93 

Sehlosstnann, A., 69 

SeJiuster, E., 237 

S<5guin, E., 277, 278 

Scverson, S. O., 109, 115 

Sherlock, E. B., 169 

Simon, T., 158, 210 

Simpson, B. R., 178 

Smith, M. K., 84 

Sollier, P., 149, 189 

Si^eamian, C, 154, 222, 223, 228 

Spitzka, E. A., 74 

Squire, C. R., 179 

Staivh, D., 142 

Stem, W., 149, 264 

Stoner, W. S., 289 

Stout, G. F,, 198 



INDEX OF AUTHORS 



313 



Slrayer, G. D., 125, 127, 131 
vStrong, E. K., 56 
Swift, E. J., 158 

Terman, L. M., 29, 49, 51, 58, Go, 

120 
Thorndike, E. L., 154, 213, 214, 

216, 230, 240 
'JVabue, M. R., 179, 180 



Ward, L. F., 257 

Watson, G. A., 65, 66, 72 

Whipple, G. M., 164, 178 

Wissler, C, 21, 221 

Witmer, L., 84, 308 

Woodrow, il., 37, 40, 133, 135, 173, 

174, 187, 194, 228, 230, 297 
Woods, F. A., 238, 247 
Wundt, W., 149, 189 



'JYcdgold, A. F., 79, 196, 241, 280 Wylie, A. R. T., 118, 169, 198 
Wallin, J. }l. W., 265 Yerkes, R. M., 29, 58 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



Abbie, 11/ 

Absence, from school, 136, 143 
Absurdities, recognition of, 195 
Achievement — capacity, test, 

203 
Acuity, visual, of school -children, 

85 

measurement of, S^ff 
Adenoids, 82, 84, 88, 90/ 
Administration, educational, 143^, 
258/ 
of medical inspection, 96 
Advancement, pedagogical, 127/ 
After-care, of feeble-minded pupils, 

273/ 
Age, anatomical, 97^ 

educational value of, 118^ 

indices of, loojf 

meaning of, 99 

mental ability and, 112^7" 

school grade and, 115 

sex differences in, iioj/"., 121 

variability in, io6jf 
chronological, 26, 97 
mental, 24/, 97 

concept of, 25/, 30 

distinction from brightness, 41 

measurement of, 26jf 
in adults, 52 
in business men, 51 

year of as unit, ^6ff 
pedagogical, 123^^ 

brightness and, 125 

definition of, 124 
two meanings of, 100 



Ages, various, of child, 97 
Amentia, meaning of, 45 
Analysis, test of, 195 
Areas, cortical, 219 
Army, U. S., tests for, 39 
Asexualization, 273 
Associates, paired, method of, 182 
Association, analysis of, 172, 177 

controlled, 177/ 

free, 171/ 

intelligence and, 176/ 

law of, 172 

mental, I7ijf 
Atomism, psychological, 213/ 
Attendance, school, 136, 143 
Attention, and intelligence, 149, 
189, 196, 226/., 230 

conditions of, 297Jf 

definition of, 185 

degrees of, 185 

in children, 30i# 

in idiots, 300/ 

measurement of, 186^ 

motor accompaniments of, 185 

training of, 282, 296/f 
Automatism, 208, 211/ 
Aveyron, savage of the, 275jf, 298 

Backwardness, 54 

Behavior, intelHgent, and mind, 

147/ 
meaning of, 147 
Biometrics, and heredity, 234^ 
Bones, cuneiform, no, 112 
forearm, 104 

315 



i6 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



Bones, hand, 105 

mtelligonco and, 115/ 

pisifomi, 109/, 112 

VNTist. 1 03,//" 
Bnun, 6i# 

action, 217/, 227/ 

body and, 81, 117 

intelligence and, 62_^ 
Brcslan, 57 

Brightness, age at which deter- 
mined, 70 

degrees of, 45/, 54 

exceptional cases of, 9/, 35/, 
248#, 286/f, 306 

meaning of, 41 
Byron, 36 



Cambridge, scliools of, 267 
Cancellation, test of, 163/ 
Capacities, age at which deter- 
mined, 252, 256 

sensor>% 154J?* 

training of, 279./f, 296jf 
Cells, brain, 63/, 7i/77Jf 
Census, of feeble-minded, 274 

school, 144 
Character, 38, 138, 197, 264, 292 
Classes, auxiliary, 259, 268, 270^ 

furthering, 267Jf 

special, 142/ 

ungraded, 27q|f 
Classification, of brightness de- 
grees, 54 

of children, 42jf 
Commission, Royal, on feeble- 
minded, 43 
Completion, tests of, 179/ 



Corrtvtion, of physical deftvts, 96 
Correlation, memiing of, I52jf 

negative, 159/ 
Cortex, brain, 63jf 

brightness and, 94 

childivn's. 72 

idiots', 79 

vertebrates', 6T,ff 
Courses, parallel, 143 

physical culture, 144 
Courts, juvenile, 38, 172 
Criminality, 38, 91 
Cimiculum, simplified, 141, 269 

Deafness, 88 
Defects, age and, S2 

intelligence and, S2ff 

physical, 8ijf 

scholarsliip and, 134 
Defining, tests of, 193/ 
Degenei*acy (see Stigmata) 
Dentition, 101/ (see Teeth) 
Detraction, 187 
Development, prediction of, 118 

rapidity of, 113 
Diagnosis, mental, 16, ^Sf, 60, 93, 

113, 118, 260 
Differences, individual, 13, 47/, 

prediction of, 108 
raci;xl, 56, 103, 159/f 
sex, 31, 103, no/, 121, 134 
social, 57/f 
Disabilities, special mental, 293 
Discrimination, sensor}'', 151/ 
intelligence and, 1 54/ 
racial differences in, i^^ff 
tests of, I5i./f 
training in, 27Qf, 284 
Diseases, communicable, 95 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



317 



Distraction, 187, 301 
Distribution, age and grade, 128/7" 

of intelligence quotients, 53/ 

of mental ages, 31^ 

normal, 32 
Docility, 211 
Dotting, test of, 187/ 
Dramatics, 302 
Dullards, 11, 36 
Dullness, definition of, 42, 54 

education and, 259^, 266^ 
Duty, training sense of, 305 

Education, 139/, 146 

for bright and dull, 258/, 
266/ 
Edwards, Richard, descendants of, 

249# 
Efficiency, factors of, 229^^ 
Elimination, 127, 131/ 
Eminence, inheritance of, 247Jf 
Emotions, 138 

abnormalities of, 201 

training of, 308 
Energy, cortical, 227/ 
Entrance, school, age of, 123 
Environment, 232^ 

Binet tests and, 36/ 

growth and, 255/ 

mentality and, 239, 240, 242, 

25i# 
normality of, 233/ 

Epiphyses, 105, 106, no, 112 

Ergography, 204/ 

Evolution, of brain, 80 
of intelligence, 160 

Examination, medical (see Inspec- 
tion) 



Expedition, Cambridge Anthro- 
pological, i6o# 
Eye-color, inheritance of, 235 
Eye-glasses (see Spectacles) 
Eye-strain, 87 

Factors, specific mental, 224/ 

general mental, 226^ 

intermediate mental, 229^^ 
Faculties, mental, 215, 296 

physiological method and, 278 

training of, 309 
Failure, 126, 140, 145 

causes of, 35, 133/ 
Fame, Hall of, 248 
Families, feeble-minded, 243/, 

245/ 
Far-sightedness, 86f 
Fear, 308 

Feeble-mindedness, definition of, 
43/, 53/ 

elimination of, 272/ 

importance of, 15 

social aspects of, 43/ 
Feelings, 168/ 
Forecasting (see Predicting) 
Freshman, Columbia tests of, 20 

Minnesota tests of, 39 
Frequencies, association, I73# 

Galton, as child, 9/ 

Games, 301/ 

Genius, cases of, 10, 36, 286/ 

inheritance of, 247, 248/ 

opportunity and, 257 
Glands, 82, 90 
Goldsmith, 36 

Grades, of brightness, 42/, 54 
Grading, of children, 142 



3i8 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



Groups, tests of, 40 
Growth, age limit of, 50 

brain, in cliildren, 68/ 

education and, 254/ 

environment and, 255 

heredity and, 252 

learning and, 37, 70 

mental, 48 

skeletal, 106 

Headaches, 87 
Hearing, 82, 88 

of savages, 162 

tests of, 89, 95 
Height, 117/ 
Heredity, 232jf 

education and, 253, 254/ 

growth and, 252 

importance of, 25ijf 

methods of investigating, 2S^ff 
Histories, family (see Pedigrees) 
History, of mental measurement, 

Home, mental effects of, 239, 240 
Hydrocephalus, 74 

Idiocy, 43, 44. 54, 98 
Illiteracy, 256 
Imagery, 165/ 

intelligence and, 167 

tests of, 166 

thought and, 167 
Imagination, training of, 282 
Imbecility, 43, 44, 54, 98 
Impulsiveness, 211/ 
Indices, of anatomical age, loojf 
Individuals (see Differences) 
Inefficiency, social, 44 
Inheritance, mental, 237/ 



Inheritance, physical, 236, 238 
Insanity, as cause of feeble-mind- 

edness, 242 
Inspection, medical, 94/, iiSjf, 
144 

relation of, to teacher, 96 
Instincts, I97jf 

attention and, 297/ 

in feeble-minded, I98jf 

intelligence and, 197/ 

sexual, 200, 212 

social, 306 
Institutions, for feeble-minded, 

272/ 
Instruction, by subjects, 142 
Intelligence, definition of, 36, 37, 
41, 51, 148, 213, 229 

errors in measurement of, 55 

estimates of, 156/ 

measurement of, 19/, 55 

mind and, 147/ 

organization of, 213^ 

relations of, 14/ 

science of, 16 

success in school and, 33jf, 137 

value of knowledge of, 17, 295 
Interests, 299/, 303 
Interrelationships, mental, 150, 

213/ 
Intuition, 191 

Kallikak, Martin, descendants of, 

245# 
Knowledge, acquisition of, 37, 51 
needed by schools, 257 

Language, school success and, 135 
tests of, 179/ 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



319 



Layers, cortical, 63/ 

pyramidal, 63/, 72 
Learning, brain changes and, 71/ 

growth and, 70 

measurement of memory by, 183 

mental age and, 37 
Letters, teaching of, 287/ 
Levels, intelligence, 113 
Localization, of brain functions, 

218/ 
Lock-step, 128, 142 
Logical-mindedness, I93# 

Malnutrition, 106 

Mannheim, schools of, 267/ 

Marriage, laws against, 274 

Matings, of feeble-minded, 242/ 

Maturity, 55 

Median, definition of, 30 

Memory, 180/ 

as a capacity, 230 

association and, 180/ 

in feeble-minded, 184 

intelligence and, 183^ 

other mental processes and, 185 

tests of, i8ojf 

training of, 281, 286, 306/ 
Mendelism, 244 
Mentality (see Age, mental) 
Methods, educational, 275,^ 

physiological, 277^^ 
criticism of, 283^ 
Microcephalus, 79 
Mind, body and, 61/ 

intelligence and, I47jf 
Moron, definition of, 44/, 54 
Movements, training of, 280/, 282 
Multifactorism, theory of, 229jf 



Multifocalism, theory of, 215, 220 
Musicians, childhood of, 10 

Nationality, and scholarship, 135 
Near-sightedness, 86/ 
Neglect, parental, 96 
Negroes, intelligence of, 56 
Neurones, 63/, 71 

functioning of, 227/ 
Non-focaHsm, theory of, 213/, 221 
Normality, anatomical, 119 

frequency of, 54 

inheritance of, 247 

of school grade, 123/", 129 
Nurse, school, 96 
Nutrition, and mental capacity, 

240 

Occupations, for feeble-minded, 

260, 261 
Opposites, I77# 

and intelligence, 178 
Organization, educational, 2$%ff 

of associations, 177 

mental, 
and correlations, 22oJf 
three theories of, 214^, 220 
Orthopedics, mental, 282 
Ossification, carpal, 103^ 

mental development and, ii5# 

sex differences in, 112 

variability in, 109/ 
Overstrain, 119/ 

Pain, sensitivity to, and intelli- 
gence, 158 

Palate, 90, 93 

Papuans, senses of, 161 

Parallelism, of school courses, 143 
psychophysical, 61 



20 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



Pedigrees, for study i>f hnvdity, 

of ftvble-mindod, J41.//", --ks.f/* 

t^f superior iuteIli^>;oiu\^s, 247.//' 
IViveption, ibjff 

intelligence aud, 104 

tests of, U\\Jf 
Perseveration, 176 
Persistence, of will, 202 ff 

tests of, 202ff 

Pei"sonality, in intelligence testei"s, 

39 

Phrenology, 217 
Play, 301/ 

Pleasantness (see Feelings) 
Popidation, and grade distribu- 
tion, 129 
Porto Rico, 135 
Predicting, development, 118 

individual ditTercuces, 108 

nientid age, ^^xf, 52 

cvcupation, 2bo 
Pnxiigies, juvenile, 9/, 3(\ 2St\tf 
Pmgnosis (see Pivdicting) 
Progress, rates of, 258jf, 267jf 
Promotion, by snbjects, 142 

mental age and, 34 

spcciiil, 35, 2q$ 
Psychology, experimental, 278/ 
Pubescence, 107 

SL^hoUirship ami, 116 

vaiiability in, 108/ 

Questions, as aid to attention, 303/ 
Quotients, 

intelligence, ^Sff 

constancy of, 49 

definition of, 49 

significance of, 55 

use of, ^2ff 



Quotients, intelligence, variability 

R., Louis, 35 
Races (see Differences) 
Radiographs, 103, no, 112 
Reactions, time of, 21 
Reasoning, 190//' 
definition of, 190 
intelligence and, 150, 191 
tests of, n),\ff. 
t nulling of, 307/, 3(X) 
Reliability, of measurements of 

intelligence, 55 
Reprixluction, by memory, 181 
Retardation, 

l)edagogical, 124/ 
by gmdes, I26jf, 132 
causes of, 133/, i30# 
extent of, \2^f 
in Minnesota, 127, 133, 135 
increase in, with age, 138 
invisible, 145 
remedies for, li^c^ff 
yeai-s of, 126 
mental, increase in, with age, 46 
meaning of year of, 46^ 
Retention, measuirment of, 183 
Revisions, of Binet scale, 29/r, 40 
R(!Sntgenographs,(seeRadiographs) 
Royalty, heredity in, 238 

vScale, 

Binet, 27, 28 
accumcy of, 30 
criticism of, 36Jf 
popularity of, 24 
revisions of, 29jf, 40 
success of, 23/ 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



321 



Senses (see Discrimination, Vision, 

Hearing) 
Sensitivity (see Discrimination) 
Sex, and school success, 134 

(see Differences) 
Sheaths, of nerve fibres, 71 
Siblings, resemblances in, 237/ 
Simplification (see Curriculum) 
Solidarity, social, 310 
Spectacles, 84, 87, 135 
Spelling, and heredity, 238 
Stages, anatomical, 99 

mental, 113, 114 
Standing, pedagogical, I25j9" 
Status, social, and intelligence, 57^ 
and physical development, 1 18 
Stereotypy, 212 
Stigmata, of degeneracy, giff 

significance of, 93 
St. Louis, schools of, 129/ 
Stoner, Winifred Sackville Jr., 

289# 
Structure, 

brain, 62^ 
gross defects in, 78 
in adults, jsff 
in children, 71/ 
in vertebrates, 6^ff 
Subnormality, 55 
Success, causes of, 13/, 59 , I33j^ 
Suggestibility, 208/ 

kinds of, 211 

tests of, 209/ 
Superiority, cases of, 9/, 35/, 
248/, 286/, 306 

definition of, 42, 54 
Supernormals, education of, 262^, 

268, 286/, 305/ 
Supervisors, of individual work, 

269/ 



Surveys, mental, 40 
Synthesis, tests of, 195 



Talents, special, 292 
Teacher, knowledge needed by, 17 
Teeth, 82, 90, 10 if, 107/ 
Tests, aljsurdities, 195 

achievement-capacity, 203 

anatomical age, Kxjff 

association, free, lyiJJ" 

attention, i86J/^ 

cancellation, 163 

completion, 179 

definition, 193^/" 

discrimination, 151 

dotting, 187/ 

ergograph, 204^ 

far-sightedness, 86 

group, 40 

hearing, 89 

imagery, 166 

intelligence, 26/, 55, 295 

language, 180 

learning, 183 

memory span, 183 

mental age, 26^ 

opposites, 177 

paired associates, 182 

perception, 163 

reasoning, 193 ff 

sensory, 151 

suggestibility, 209^ 

synthesis, 195 

visual acuity, 84^ 

will, 202/ 
Theory, multifactor, 229^?^ 

multifocal, 215, 220 

non-focal, 213/, 221 

Spearman's two-factor, 233^ 

unifocal, 216, 221 



322 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS 



N 



Thinking, 171 
Thought, and iniagen', 167 
Tiine, reaction, 2 1 
Tonsils, Sj, 84, 9of 
Training, gTO^^'th vs, 254^ 

in early childhood, 255 

motor, 2 So/, 2S2 

of attention, 282, 296^ 

of capacities, 296^ 

of dull children, 259/, 266/f 

of emotions, 308 

of faculties, 509 

of idiot, 276/ 

of imagination, 282 

of memor>% 281, 286, 306^ 

of reasoning, 307/, 309 

of sense of duty, 305 

of supemormals, 262/, 268, 
2Sbff, 305/ 

sensor>', 279/, 284 

transference of, 307 
Transference, see Training 



Tniancy, 127, 144 

Tuttle. Elizviboth, see Edwards 

T^^•ins, measurements of, 240 

Underfeeding, 105 
Unity, mental, 216, 221 
Unpleasimtness (see Feelings) 

Variation, in anatomical age, io6Jf 
Vision, $2, 84/, 95, 135 

Waste, educational, 260 
Weight, body, 117/ 

bmin, growth of, in children, 

in adults, 73/ 

in eminent men, 74 

in vertebrates, 62 

intelligence and, 74^ 
Will, defects of, 202^ 
deiinition of, 201/ 
instinct and, 201 



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